Drifiting Towards Dating
by hardly loquacious
Summary: Sequel to "A Matter of Motive." Castle and Beckett try to decide where they want their relationship to go. Turns out moving from a kiss to something more can be more complicated than they thought.
1. Chapter 1

Drifting towards Dating  
(aka. En Route to a Relationship)

Alright, here it is, the start of the sequel to "A Matter of Motive." I hope that people aren't too disappointed. You don't really need to read the first one since I summarize a lot of what happened in this chapter, but you might want to anyways (I think it's a pretty good story). There's not _that_ much Castle/Beckett in this chapter, but there will be I promise. Let me know what you guys think so far. (Again, the chapter is ridiculously long, but that seems to happen when I write these two, so whatever).

Disclaimer: I still own nothing

xxxxx

It was already late when they got to the crime scene. Well, okay, not late, but late-_ish_. Taco-night at the Castle residence had been pretty much over when Kate'd gotten the call. At least the main course had. The way things had been going it looked like a little bit of lingering over coffee was in order. Not surprising given that the owner of the residence Richard Castle himself, had, only minutes before mind you, kissed the lovely detective. Against the door. In his writing room. Not that the advance had been unwelcome. She'd returned the favour only minutes later to even the score.

But it meant that it was long dark by the time everyone was finishing up with the crime scene (an old parking lot near an abandoned building). It was always harder to see the details in the dark. And in this particular instance, even though the vic was a gunshot victim dressed up as a teddy bear, he wasn't the most interesting thing around. He also wasn't the only thing being examined for details. Given that when Kate had left the office the Friday before still hating the writer for all that she was worth, the pair's apparently overnight reconciliation puzzled their colleagues. Ryan and Esposito weren't too worried about the details, though they definitely gossiped… ahem… _discussed_ them when Beckett wasn't within earshot. Whether or not Castle heard them the boys didn't mind so much. Might have even asked him what happened, if the writer was ever more than three feet from his muse that is. When the detectives did finally manage to get the man alone all he'd had time to say was that their female colleague had decided it would be better if they reached an understanding _before_ he came back to the station on Monday, at which point Beckett herself had called a question to him from across the crime scene. The writer had jogged right over to see what she was talking about and hadn't left her side since. Neither Ryan nor Esposito was stupid of course; they knew there was more to the story then that… Privately they came to the conclusion that Castle had obviously charmed his way back into Beckett's good graces. Somehow. No doubt _after_ she'd given him a good blasting. But both men knew enough not to poke in where they weren't wanted. Especially since things would definitely run more smoothly that way.

Besides, Beckett with a smile on her face had been a rare sight the past few weeks and Castle had already teased a couple out of her. Probably at his own expense of course, but that was irrelevant.

The coroner on the scene was less ready to accept the simple sentence Castle had offered by way of explanation when she'd alluded to his sudden return. Of course Dr. Parish had the joint advantages of knowing her friend pretty well, being a smart woman with a fair bit of intuition, and having been promised details later. Details always meant a story and a pretty good one too, if the couple's body language was anything to go by. She was internally cursing the lack of light, not only because it made her job harder, but because it meant that she couldn't watch her friend's facial expression as closely as she'd like. Castle was fairly easy to read. He was too obviously overjoyed to be back in Beckett's good books. How far he'd gotten into those books… well she wouldn't know until she talked to Kate. As it was, her imagination was running wild, what with the mischievous smile that had accompanied the promise of details, the ghost of a smile that had hovered over the woman's face a couple of times in the last fifteen minutes, and most tellingly, the fact that fences had apparently been mended well enough that Castle felt comfortable enough invading the good detective's personal space from time to time. He'd even placed a hand on her waist to guide her over to look at something or other, a gesture which would have resulted in a withering glare if not a broken arm had Beckett still been angry.

Frustratingly a talk with Kate had to wait until they were away from the crime scene. Not that Lanie planned to wait long for her promised details. She figured she could drum up some excuse or other to get her friend down to the morgue later that evening. While Kate refused to talk about her personal life at a crime scene Lanie'd realized long ago that she didn't always extend that rule to the morgue. The trick would be getting rid of Castle. Snapping off her gloves Lanie stood. "I've got all I need from here. Can't get anything else until I get him back to the morgue. I can probably have more details for you in an hour or two."

Kate nodded absently, clearly running some piece of information over in her head, "Thanks Lanie. Just let me know and I'll head over when we're done with witness statements and canvassing the neighbours. I could use whatever you can find."

"Oh, don't worry, you'll _definitely_ be hearing from me," Lanie told her friend.

Kate looked up then, giving her friend her full attention and a knowing smile, "Then I'll wait for your call."

"Uh huh." Oh, something had happened alright. And unless she was very much mistaken (and she wasn't), something good. _Very _good.

xxxxx

He was hovering again. Not quite invading her personal space, but standing somehow just on the edge of it as he looked over her shoulder (to see what she was looking at she assumed). He'd always enjoyed dogging her steps, _literally_. It took some getting used to and she'd been out of practice for two weeks, not used to another person watching her this intently. Until know she hadn't realized how much she'd missed it.

Castle interrupted her thoughts, "So, this your first teddy bear?"

"Nope." She told him. She grinned at his look of surprise. "Third actually." He raised his eyebrows in question and patiently waited for her to continue. Turning back to what she'd been examining before she continued, "Found a pair of them murdered in an apartment once."

"You _really_ do like the weird ones," he remarked, his voice half amusement, half appreciation.

"And people in costume definitely qualify. Not to mention the things people tend to wear them for outside of Halloween are also the sort of things that can get you killed," she told him absently as she tried to get a better look at whatever was half-stuck behind the cement post she was examining.

"What sort of things are those Detective?" Castle asked her, his voice all innocence.

But Kate wasn't fooled. "You're a writer Castle, I'm sure you're more than capable of filling in the blanks," she responded dryly.

He leaned ever so slightly closer so that he was almost whispering in her ear, "Maybe I just want to hear you explain them."

Rising to the challenge she turned to look him right in the eye, "Well, either he was going to a child's birthday party or this was some sort of role-playing simulation, likely with sexual implications."

"Could you have possibly phrased that _more_ clinically?" Castle asked her with a pout.

"Sadly no," she told him absently as she put on a pair of gloves. "I can never remember any of the technical terms."

He grinned at her. "Ever do any role-playing of your own?" he asked innocently. When Kate whipped around in surprise he continued, "I ask purely for research purposes Detective. Why else?"

"I can't imagine," she told him. "I also don't know why my answer even matters seeing as Nikki Heat is some sort of part-time prostitute anyways. I'd have thought she'd already be familiar with these sorts of things."

"Sexual situations yes. But I haven't decided on the specifics yet. So have you?"

Deciding this conversation had gone far enough all things considered, Kate decided to draw his attention back to the task at hand, "Concentrate Castle."

"That's kind of hard to do. Ever since you said role-playing and sexual situations in the same sentence… Well…" he told her with a suggestive leer.

She grinned, and moved in slightly herself. There was more than one way to get what she wanted. "Tell you what Castle, the faster we close this case, the faster we'll be able to continue this… _discussion._ After all, I think it's a _conversation_ best had when we're alone, don't you?"

Castle's eyes widened slightly, before he rapidly changed gears. "Okay, so the case, whaddya got?"

"Maybe nothing, but grab me an evidence bag will you?"

Castle turned and dutifully found one and held it open for her. "You know they're staring," he remarked casually.

She didn't even bother asking who he meant. "That was to be expected."

"Think they'll ask you about it?" He asked, trying to gauge her reaction.

But she was calm about the whole thing. "Ryan and Esposito, maybe eventually, but probably not tonight. Lanie'll give me the third degree the second she gets me alone."

"You going to tell her?" He asked curiously.

"Why wouldn't I?" Kate countered.

"No reason."

But Kate was used to interrogation, and his dismissal had been too quick for it to be nothing. "Do you _not_ want me to tell people that we kissed each other?"

"Beckett you can feel free to tell anyone and everyone you want that we kissed each other. Twice." He said with a grin. "I just thought you might not want people to find out, me being who I am, and working with you and the book and everything." Very eloquent Castle. No wonder people sometimes questioned his writing skills.

"Well, I would prefer to keep things relatively private if you don't mind. But I'm going to tell Lanie. What about you? Martha's got to be dying of curiosity."

"Martha can stew about it for a while; she'll be far too smug if I tell her." This conversation seemed far too serious. So he'd kissed her, and he wanted to again. Didn't have to be a big deal… Did it? Castle decided a change of subject was in order, "Find anything?"

"Just regular trash," Kate told him with a sigh. "We'll bag it of course just in case anything is important, but I'm not sure we'll find much. That's the problem with finding bodies in abandoned areas. There's always tons of unimportant junk littered around."

"Well, we know he was shot here…" Castle trailed off, searching for what that implied.

The detective picked up his train of thought. "… so either he must have been meeting someone. No one would be here without a reason. Maybe he was grabbed and brought here to finish the job."

"Or he hid something here and someone followed him."

Beckett nodded, acknowledging the possibility before turning to the other side of the crime scene, "Come on. Let's go see what the guys have."

xxxxx

Turns out the guys didn't have much. They'd been searching for any potential witnesses, but it wasn't exactly the kind of neighbourhood that produced many _reliable _witnesses. Even after Beckett and Castle started helping with the search it proved to be slow and tedious. It was late when they finally made their way back to the station after canvassing the nearby buildings and talking to passers-by. Search hadn't yielded much, a couple of people thought they saw an older car (not sure of the make or model as accounts differed, but the colour appeared to be blue or black) drive by the area, someone got out (male, dark hair, potentially wearing a light-coloured jacket), walked in the direction the body had been found, and ten minutes later got back into the car. Kate was hoping Lanie would be able to tell them something more useful.

As if on cue her phone rang, "Beckett."

She heard the coroner's voice on the other end of the line, "Hey. It's me. I've got something for you."

"Thanks Lanie, I'll be down in a minute."

"See you in a bit."

Kate hung up her phone and turned to the other two detectives. "That was Lanie, she's got something so I'm gonna stop by the morgue on my way out."

"Alright," Esposito told her. "I guess we'll just pick this up in the morning." He turned to his partner, "Unless you've got something."

"Nah," Ryan replied. "I've got nothing. We'll start fresh in the morning."

"Okay," Kate told them, "Night guys."

"See you guys tomorrow," Esposito told the pair as he grabbed his coat. "You never know, maybe Lanie'll tell us something that'll break the case."

"Yeah, you wish." Ryan retorted. "Night Beckett," he paused, then added with a smirk, "Night Castle."

"Night guys," Castle responded absently. He wanted to talk to her, wanted to know what was going on, what they were doing. He wasn't sure if he'd get a chance that night, but maybe that was best. After all, what did he want to be doing? Besides the obvious of course. On the other hand, he wasn't about to let another opportunity slip by. He'd almost lost her once.

Kate herself interrupted his thoughts, "You coming to the morgue?" she asked him.

"Hm?" He'd lost track of the conversation.

"Castle, focus. The morgue. Lanie. The case. You coming?" Then her voice softened slightly, "You don't have to. I can get this one if you still need to catch up on some sleep."

But he'd recovered himself by then, and even if it was a bad idea he wanted to continue their earlier conversation when his daughter wasn't in the next room. Maybe she'd be agreeable after they found out what Lanie had to tell them. "And pass up the chance to wear one of those wonderful morgue helmets? You're not getting rid of me that easily Detective. I'll come."

"Alright, then get a move on."

"Yes ma'am." He told her, as he stood grabbing his jacket.

xxxxx

Lanie didn't have much to tell them. As everyone had assumed cause of death had been the gunshot wounds to the chest. No ID yet, but the victim was Caucasian, late-twenties/early-thirties. No drugs in his system although there was a low amount of alcohol in his blood, well below the legal limit. No ID of any kind, but she was running his fingerprints through the system. And based on the wear on the inside of the costume, it appeared to have been made for him.

While she ran through all the facts Lanie watched the pair across the table from her, hoping to get a hint of what might have happened when they were in better lighting. Neither of them betrayed much, Kate was too focused on the case; Castle might have been slightly preoccupied, but it was hard to say. Had they always stood that close together? She couldn't remember, but she thought maybe they had. The pair of them did always have a habit of invading each other's personal spacem so that was nothing to go by. Luckily she had a plan.

"And that's it. If I get a hit on the fingerprints I'll let you know, but he might not be in the system."

"Thanks. Any evidence of sexual activity?" Kate asked.

"None that I could see, but if he had a shower afterwards there might not be," Lanie pointed out, knowing why Beckett had asked.

"Okay, thanks Lanie. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Actually Detective," she said keeping her tone casual, "I was wondering if you had a few minutes."

"Sure." Kate told her agreeably, "Whaddya need?"

"Signatures on some paperwork from some of our old cases. It shouldn't take too long if you don't mind waiting." Okay, so there wasn't _actually_ any paperwork, but she was sure if Beckett pressed she could find some.

Kate raised her eyebrows, before smilingly slightly. "No problem." She turned to Castle, "I might be a while. You know, boring cop stuff. Why don't you go home and I'll see you tomorrow."

"But…" he started. This wasn't how he'd wanted this to go. But he knew Kate, and he knew there was no way he'd be able to push her once she'd made up her mind. "Okay, but I don't mind waiting."

"Nah, no point in both of us being sleep deprived. Get out of here Castle." Her tone softened ever so slightly, "I'll talk to you tomorrow."

He decided it would be best to retreat gracefully. Besides, he could use the time to come up with a strategy. "Until tomorrow Detective."

She sighed, before adding with a smile, "Until tomorrow." He shot her one last grin, before adding a quick goodnight to Lanie as an afterthought. With that he left the morgue.

Well, so much for convincing Beckett to go out for that missed coffee. Though he supposed he now had a few hours to come up with a game plan.

xxxxx

The two women watched him leave. When she was sure he was out of earshot Kate turned to Lanie, "Paperwork?" she asked with a smile.

"Figured it was the best way to get writer-boy out of the room. He always tries to avoid the mundane."

"Unless he's avoiding something even scarier," Kate said in agreement. "But what if _I'd_ asked you what you were talking about."

Lanie shrugged unapologetically. "Oh please. You know as well as anybody how much paperwork our line of work generates. I'm sure I could have found _something _for you to sign if I'd really needed to."

Kate acknowledged that with a nod before getting to the truth. Keeping her tone innocent and slightly confused she asked, "So if not paperwork, what did you want to talk to me about then?"

Lanie's expression turned incredulous. "Right. What on earth could I want to talk to _you_ about? Girl last time I talked to you, you were a bit of a wreck, not to mention out for writer boy's blood. Tonight you waltz onto the crime scene with Castle in tow, a smirk on your face and mischief in your eyes. And don't think I didn't notice the way he was looking at you, forget about how close he was standing. So drop your innocent act Katie dear and give me details!"

Kate laughed, giving up all pretence of innocence. "Alright, I'll give you your promised details, but not here." When Lanie started to object she continued, "It might take a while so we might be better off somewhere more comfortable. So go get changed and we'll go for coffee."

"Fine, but this had better be good," Lanie grumbled.

"Oh, it will be." Kate promised with a grin. "Let's just say I decided to follow your advice." When Lanie's mouth dropped open, the detective laughed again. "I'll meet you upstairs Dr. Parish."

Lanie's mind was swimming. Followed her advice? But what advice? She'd given a lot of it over the last few months, most of it unasked. And it had ranged from simply talking to the man to jumping his bones… At this point she wasn't sure which she wanted to have happened. She needed to get cleaned up. Right now. Kate couldn't hold out forever, although the fact that the detective was clearly enjoying herself was a damn good sign. She definitely wanted her promised details.

xxxxx

Kate had irritatingly refused to start talking until they were settled at the coffee shop and had given their orders to the waiter.

"Alright Beckett," Lanie said, "Stop stalling and spill."

Kate nodded to her friend and started talking. "Do you remember our conversation on Saturday, when you told me that if I wanted to know anything, whether it was about my mother's death or why he'd stuck his nose in to begin with, I needed to talk to Castle?" When Lanie nodded she continued, "I decided you were right. I was driving myself crazy with all the what ifs. I needed to talk to him. But I couldn't call. It just… I don't know. Maybe I wanted to yell at him face to face. Maybe I just needed to see him to see if he actually meant anything he was saying. Maybe I just couldn't do it over the phone. So…"

"So?" Lanie prompted.

"So before I could talk myself out of it I stormed over to his apartment." When Lanie raised her eyebrows in surprise Kate amended her statement. "Okay, so maybe I didn't storm over. It started out as storming over, but by the time I got there, that had kind of petered out, and I kind of wished I'd just stayed home.. But it was too late for that because I was already knocking at his door without any idea what I was going to say. I mean, I could hardly start screaming at him, what with his daughter and his mother sharing the apartment. And then Martha opened the door." Kate laughed softly. "She was pretty surprised to see me."

"I bet." Lanie remarked dryly. She could well imagine the surprise on the other woman's face. From what she'd heard about Castle's mother she would have prodded and poked until she'd gotten all the details out of her son. Lanie did wonder though if the older woman might resent the pain caused to her only child. "She wasn't angry at you or something was she?"

Kate laughed softly again. "No. Not even a little. She was having some sort of informal party, but she barely gave me a chance to apologize for the interruption before she'd hauled me in through the front door and propelled me into Castle's writing room." She'd remembered how pleased Martha had been to see her, how determined the older woman had been to get her into Castle's office. For all her insanity, Martha Rogers was certainly one of a kind.

Well that was interesting, Lanie decided. His mother had been anxious to speed up a reconciliation. Clearly the Castle residence approved of Beckett. That was a good sign. She noticed Kate had trailed off again, apparently lost in her own thoughts. "Bet he was surprised to see you as well."

"Oh he was completely shocked." Kate agreed. "He was pretty clearly expecting me to ban him from the station."

Which meant she hadn't done that. Even more interesting. "What did you do?" Lanie asked.

Kate sighed, "I asked him why. I realized that I needed him to tell me. Needed to make sure…"

"That it wasn't just for Nikki Heat." Lanie supplied. When Kate nodded she continued, "And what did he say."

"That he did it because he cared about me. He'd apparently meant it as some sort of gift or something, though he realizes now that was a bit stupidly idealistic. But he was trying to be nice."

"That's one hell of a gift," Lanie remarked.

"Yeah," Kate agreed. "And then when I told him how I felt about my mother's case he apparently decided to close it back up. But the guy he'd asked to look at it had already found something. So he had to tell me."

Lanie knew she had to tread particularly softly here, try to disturb old wounds as little as possible, especially as they'd already been recently disturbed. "Did you ask him what he found?"

"Yeah." Kate kept her eyes resolutely trained on her coffee cup. "She was targeted Lanie. The knife wounds weren't random. The assailant knew what he was doing. And there were three other people killed in the same way around the same time. Someone wanted my Mom dead."

"Oh sweetie…" What else could she say? "If you need any help…"

"I know. And thanks. Apparently Ryan and Esposito have been giving him a hand so they'd probably welcome anything you'd noticed."

Oh, back the truck up. What? "Giving him a hand? He's still trying to solve it?" Writer-boy had some serious guts.

"He's still trying to solve it." Kate confirmed. "I'll probably get on-board soon. I just need a couple more days. He said he'd do whatever I needed."

Lanie's mind was reeling. Whatever she needed? And Kate had _taken him up on it?_ There was far, far more going on here. She was about to ask her friend exactly what it was she'd asked Castle _for_ (oh, the possibilities), when Kate continued. "He really did look like crap you know."

"He was upset," Lanie supplied.

"Yeah." Really upset, which had been flattering, and sweet.

"You believed him," Lanie added, even though that much was obvious.

"Yeah," then Kate smirked. "According to Martha he'd been pining."

Lanie laughed. "Castle, pining? Now that I'm sorry I missed." Then something occurred to her, "When were you talking to Martha?"

"Oh, not long after that," Kate told her. "Alexis wanted to talk to her Dad about dinner plans since Martha and her friends had apparently taken over their kitchen." She paused before biting the bullet. "They invited me out for dinner with them," she said as casually as possible.

Lanie grinned. Well, now this was getting really good. "Did they now?" she asked innocently.

"Yup," Kate confirmed.

God it was like pulling teeth, Lanie thought to herself. "And Alexis didn't seem to mind?"

"Hmm. What? Oh, no. It was her idea actually." Kate replied. Alexis Castle really was a sweet girl. Far more sensible than her father too.

Lanie's grin grew. So mother _and _daughter were on side. Well that was excellent. "I'm assuming you went."

"Oh you know Castle, wouldn't take no for an answer, and his daughter's just as bad." Kate told her friend. "I was worried about intruding but they didn't seem to mind. They took me to their favourite Indian restaurant and bet me that it would be the best Indian food I'd ever eaten."

"And was it?" Lanie asked.

"Yes," Kate admitted sheepishly.

"What were the terms?"

"Of the bet?" Kate sighed, Lanie was going to have a field day. "If I won Castle had to do whatever I said for two weeks; if I lost I had to let him pay for dinner, basically let him be nice to me, oh and get desert," Kate said with a laugh. "It was nice," she added.

He'd set up a bet where if he lost she had to let him be nice to her? Lanie nearly slammed her head down on the table. Just how dense was the woman sitting across from her? Glancing at her friend's face and remembering the mischievous smile she'd been seeing all day, she amended that thought. Maybe she wasn't dense at all… "Just nice?" she asked.

"Lanie!" Kate said with another laugh. "Yes, it was _just _nice. His daughter was right there and I'd just learned my mother had been murdered." Right, she'd forgotten about that. "But yeah, it was nice. A nice distraction, from, well, all the other stuff. They're really sweet together you know. And they didn't make me feel like an outsider."

So Kate had noticed the man was a good father, that he might be a good distraction for all the rest of the stuff going on. Those were two more good signs. The farther along this story went the surer Lanie was that it didn't end up with the two of them jumping each other, not yet at least. "Bet you heard from good stories though."

"Oh yeah." Kate nodded, "Remind me to show you the pictures with the llama."

"You have pictures?" Lanie asked in surprise.

"Alexis sent them to me," Kate confirmed.

Lanie couldn't resist, "She seems to like you."

"Yeah. She's a nice kid. Too bad she had to leave early." At Lanie's look, she continued. "One of her friends had a boy emergency, needed moral support. So it was just Castle and I for desert."

Better and better… "Then what happened?"

"Nothing that you're thinking. We talked, had desert. He took me home, walked me to the door and kissed me on the cheek. Like I said, it was nice."

Nice. Right. It was _nice._ That was why the woman across from her was trying (and failing) to keep an idiotic grin off her face. "Uh huh. And are you sure that's _all_ that happened."

"Yes, Lanie, I'm sure." Beckett insisted. When Lanie's face fell slightly, the mischievous smile resurfaced, "Well, all that happened Saturday night anyways. They'd asked me over for taco-night, which just happened to be today."

"What!?" Lanie cried. "Girl, tell me you said yes!"

"I did." Kate confirmed, "When I was sure I wouldn't be intruding, but apparently they have guests all the time."

"Who was there this time?" Lanie asked suspiciously.

"Just me, Castle, Alexis and Martha," Kate admitted.

So she'd been invited for a family dinner too... "_And?_"

"And it was nice too. We had dinner. His family's lovely. It was fun. After dinner I decided we'd better get a few things straightened out before we went back to working together."

"Like what?" Lanie asked.

"I told him I wanted in on my mother's case," Kate told the other woman, who nodded. "And I yelled at him for pushing his nose into my personal life without asking," Lanie smirked, "And I forgave him."

Lanie stopped nodding abruptly. "I'm sorry hon, did you just say you _forgave him?_ The man you'd been ranting about and tearing to pieces for the past two weeks?" She couldn't quite believe it.

Kate blushed and ran a hand over her face, "I know, believe me, I know. It wasn't intentional, but I believed him and I did forgive him. I'm not sure I trust him 100% yet… I threatened to kill him if any of it every made it into a book, but he promised me it wouldn't."

"He promised you." Lanie repeated. Apparently, whether she realized it or not, the good detective trusted the man enough to believe he was genuine.

"Yeah."

"Then what?" She was missing something, she knew she was.

"After that?" Kate asked with a full-blown smile, "After that he kissed me."

"WHAT? Where?"

"Against the door of his office." Kate said as nonchalantly as possible. Seeing her friend's scandalized look she continued, "On the mouth Lanie. This isn't high school."

Lanie was still a little shocked. I mean, sure she'd been hoping, but she'd never actually expected… "Then what?"

"I kissed him back, he teased me, I insulted him. Then I kissed him again, and we went back into the kitchen for coffee when I, well we I guess, got called in. Cue the pair of us arriving at the crime scene," Kate said, finishing her story and looking quite pleased about the whole thing.

Lanie's mind was starting to settle. "So now what?" she asked.

"I don't know," Kate sighed. "Apparently he wants to kiss me again, and between you and me I can't say I'd mind it..."

"But?" Lanie prompted.

"But I'm not sure it's such a good idea. I mean, between us working together, and my mother's case, and I don't even know what he's looking for. Because I'm pretty sure I don't want a casual sex thing with Richard Castle."

"Well, first of all girl, you need to talk to him. Find out what he wants. I know he's got a reputation and all, but this doesn't exactly sound like he's angling for a one-night stand. I'm sure he's had them, but do you really think his daughter or his mother get to know any of those women? The man's been married twice, he's clearly capable of having a more serious relationship. Two, you complain about working with him all the time, and you've pushed him out once, if you really needed to you could do it again. And three, what does your mother's case have to do with whether or not you're in a relationship?" Lanie had an idea, but she wanted Beckett to say it.

"Well, he _is_ the one with the connections. And he _is _the one who promised to keep working on it. And he promised to help keep me sane if I needed it," Kate reasoned.

"Sweetie you do not _need_ Castle to solve or get through your mother's case," Lanie pointed out. "You've got your friends, including yours truly I might add. You're a damn strong woman. And you've solved cases without him before."

"But maybe I want him!" Kate shot back. "Maybe I like the idea of having someone with connections look into this with me, of being able to stop by his apartment to talk, or getting a hug whenever I want it! Maybe I don't want that screwed up!"

Hugs? Yup, definitely more than Beckett was letting on, but now was not the time. "And do you really think if you started something it would screw all that up? From what I hear the man seems pretty invested in this, in you. He's not likely to drop it all if it turns out the pair of you don't work. I mean, he's still on fairly good terms with his ex-wives isn't he? Wasn't one of them his publisher? He still manages to work with her, and you two don't even have to go near that far." When Kate acknowledged that Lanie continued, "I know you're worried about screwing up the newly-restored peace between you but from where I sit it sounds like you already want more. So figure out exactly what you want, then go and talk to him so you can figure out exactly what he wants. Look how well talking to him worked this time. You're happier today than you were on Friday weren't you?" Lanie paused before adding, "Let him in Kate. Even if it's just a little. You know you'll regret it if you don't at least try."

"Yeah," Kate said softly.

"Besides, if it doesn't work out, the offer to help dispose of the body still stands," Lanie added.

Kate grinned, "Thanks."

Lanie grinned back, "And try to relax a little! This doesn't have to be a big thing. It's supposed to be fun. Castle's fun. Try and let yourself enjoy it." Then, deciding to lighten the mood, she added. "So, hugs?"

Kate blushed, "That might have been part of the deal," she admitted with a laugh.

"Oh, you've got it so bad," Lanie shot back.

xxxxx

Castle was trying to come up with a game plan. Problem was, a game plan for what? What was his goal here? What they were doing was definitely fun. When he'd first met Beckett his original offer had been for a wild night together, and while he had no doubt that it would also be fun, the idea of some sort of casual sexual relationship with Beckett (somewhat similar to the one he had with Meredith he couldn't help thinking) left him cold. He didn't want casual with her. She was special. He'd just have to show her.

He wondered what Beckett thought of all this. Sure she'd agreed that they needed to talk, but maybe she didn't want a serious thing right now. She was going through a lot. He wished he could talk to her, but stupid Dr. Parish had kept her at the morgue doing paperwork, which was irritating. And come to think of it, surprising. He would have thought both of them were far too organized to get behind on their paperwork.

Suddenly it hit him, he'd been had. There was no paperwork. What had Kate told him, that Lanie would get the details out of her as soon as she got her alone? The medical examiner had been maneuvering to get her friend alone so she could get the story. And Kate had gone along with it. Of course she had, she loved pulling the wool over his eyes, not to mention she probably wanted to share the details with her best friend. He grinned to himself; it seemed he would have to catch up with his favourite detective later.

He picked up the phone and dialed a familiar number, unsurprised when he got her voicemail, "Wow you're still not home. I guess there must have been a quite a lot of _paperwork_ to keep the two of you busy for so long. I'm on to the pair of you Detective. Although to be fair, I guess it is a pretty juicy story if I do say so myself. I would like to talk to you about continuing it, if you could spare me some of your time. I promise to make it worth your while. But I guess there's plenty of time for that later. I can be patient if I need to." Then he added almost as an afterthought, "See you tomorrow at the office Detective, and sweet dreams."

He spent the next half hour as he got ready for bed planning out how he could win the lovely Katherine Beckett.

xxxxx

Kate was smiling as she wandered into her apartment. Lanie was right; this wasn't necessarily something to panic over. And it certainly didn't need to be decided today. She should just try to let herself enjoy it. Noticing the light on her answering service blinking she went over to check it, praying she wasn't about to be called out.

Hearing the voice on the other end her smile grew. Yes, Kate thought to herself, this could end up being very good.

xxxxx

TBC


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: First off, I would like to apologize for the delay in this chapter. Not only am I busy, but I got hit by a terrible case of writer's block. I planned out generally what I wanted to happen in this story, which means I planned most of the start, and then, the end. So the middle came a bit slow. Hopefully I'll be able to update more quickly now, but I make no promises. And I apologize to all the reviewers that I told the chapter would be up earlier. I made it nice and long for you all to make it up to you.

Disclaimer: Still own nothing.

xxxxx

Beckett was surprised by how _normal_ it was the next morning. She wasn't sure what she'd been expecting exactly, I mean, they'd kissed each other. It didn't have to be some huge relationship-changing event. And she certainly didn't _want _awkwardness, but... the absolute normalcy of everything was almost disconcerting. She did some research, chatted with the guys, tracked down leads. Detective stuff. When _he_ came in he just shot her a smile and greeted the guys. They bounced ideas off each other, went over what they had. He came up with some overly-theatrical explanation, she shot it down semi good-naturedly. Same old same old. Sure, maybe his smile was a little warmer, and maybe his eyes lingered a little longer when he handed her coffee, and maybe he stood just a fraction of an inch closer than he had before, but somehow it still felt... okay.

Like this was how it was supposed to be.

And maybe it was. They'd always been flirtatious, teasing, bantering, pestering, mocking. It was just them.

Were they crazy to rock that boat? Was she?

Not that she'd rocked it much... yet. Okay, so she'd rocked it a little. She'd admit it; there had been a little rocking, but not enough to change the course too drastically. So how much was she will to risk by rocking things just a little harder.

Did she want to rock harder?

Beckett felt her cheeks growing hot. Apparently her metaphor had gotten slightly out of hand and was calling up all sorts of interesting imagery. She blamed Castle's influence.

Mentally chastising herself she remind her wandering mind that she was currently sitting in the middle of the precinct, and she was supposed to be working. Giving herself a mental shake she turned her attention back to the file in front of her.

Seconds later a coffee cup appeared by her right arm. "It looked like you were due for a re-fill," Castle told her.

Ignoring the thud of what she decided to call surprise that reverberated through her chest upon hearing his voice next to her ear, she turned and offered him half a smile. "Thanks," she told him, sipping the hot liquid.

"Anytime Detective." He told her. "Found anything?"

"Nothing much." She said, "Looked through a list of stores that sell similar costumes, comparing to previous crimes for similarities. I'm about to start calling rental costume places, though with our luck our victim probably bought the damn thing, which'll probably make it harder to trace, unless he used a credit card. Ryan and Eposito are checking for any reports of missing persons, but it's barely been twenty-four hours since time of death so that'll probably be a waste of time."

"I assume you don't want me to put a rush on the fingerprints," he told her.

"You assume correctly." Kate replied. She sighed, and rolled her head across her shoulders. "It's just so much easier when they have ID on them."

Castle jumped from his seat. "That's it," he told her. "You cannot be this discouraged this early in the case. You need a break. Let's go grab lunch."

"Castle I don't have time..."

"I'm not asking you to go out for a three course meal Detective. I'm saying let's go get a hotdog from the stand at the end of the block. Take a ten minute break while we eat them. Get some perspective. And then when we're done you can come back and we can canvas all the costume rental places you want." When she hesitated he knew he'd won. Holding out a hand to her he added just a smidge more charm, "Please Detective. Don't make me eat alone."

Putting on a sigh she nodded, "Fine." Ignoring his offered hand, she stood and turned to grab her coat. He considered it a small victory when she let him help her put it on.

xxxxx

She was discouraged, and a little bit distracted. Maybe not distracted, that might be the wrong word (and was likely just wishful thinking on his part). She was different, but... not. She was almost wary of him, like she thought he was going to haul her into one of the interrogation rooms and have his wicked way with her. And okay, so while that was one of his recurring fantasies, he hadn't actually been planning on acting it out that particular morning. For one, he wasn't going to give her any excuse to lump whatever happened into the one-night stand category. He had a bit of a reputation after all. And secondly, two generations of Castle women would have his head if he screwed this up again.

He couldn't help grinning when he'd remembered his mother and his daughter's scheming. Both of them thinking they'd been oh so subtle, but their true intentions had been obvious. He'd walked down the stairs that morning to find them both reading various sections of the newspaper.

"Well don't the two of you look all domestic?" He'd said by way of greeting.

"Morning Dad." Alexis had replied. "How's the case? The body wasn't too horribly maimed or anything was it?"

"Dressed as a teddy bear actually," he'd replied.

"A teddy bear?" Martha had asked, sounding slightly shocked. "What will people think of next?"

"Now mother," he'd replied, his tone indulgent, "I'd have thought that as an actress you'd have been more tolerant, if not gotten involved in some crazy stuff yourself in your youth."

"I'm all for people expressing themselves darling, but I've never felt the need to dress up as a child's toy. In my personal life at least. I remember agreeing to a horrible version of Babes in Toyland. Trust me, four months of dressing up as Bo Peep is enough to put you off childish costumes for life." Martha had retorted.

"Touché."

And then his family had moved on to what they were really interested in.

"Kate sure seems to get the strangest cases," Alexis had remarked casually.

"Well, she pretty much unofficially requests them." Castle pointed out to his daughter.

"True," Alexis had agreed, "But between them and the crazy stuff that happens in your books I really have no baseline for any kind of normal crime. All I ever hear about is the really fringe elements."

"The fringe elements of crime," Martha had remarked. "When criminals themselves are usually considered fringe elements. We get the fringe of the fringe." She paused, "How was working with Beckett again? Any recriminations from her team? She seems like the type to inspire loyalty."

"She is." Castle had confirmed. "But nothing so far. She seems to have called them off. That said I'm sure a word from her would result in my body being dumped in a place where it'd never be seen from again."

"Well you would have deserved it." His mother scolded. "You cannot just go digging around in the poor girl's personal life without her permission."

"I know mother, but could you lighten up on that."

"It's true Dad," Alexis said. "But, I'm glad you're not dead."

"Thank-you," he'd told her.

"And I'm glad that she's letting you tag along with her again," Alexis added.

"Me too sweetie."

Then his daughter had really started fishing for information. "It's too bad you guys had to leave early though. Last night was fun."

"It was fun." Martha agreed. "Detective Beckett looked like she was having a good time. I suspect that woman needs to relax."

"Mother," he'd told her, defending his muse, "the woman is perfectly capable of taking care of herself."

"Of course she is dear, that wasn't my point."

"What was your point?" he'd asked in trepidation.

"That since our evening had to be cut short we should extend a rain check for that coffee." Martha said like it was the most obvious thing in the world.

Apparently Alexis had agreed. "Good idea Grams!" the girl cried.

"My friend Brian, you remember Brian don't you dear? He co-starred with me in The Miracle Worker years ago. Well, he's starting a new play in a couple of weeks. He said he'd get me tickets," Martha told him.

"So?" Castle had asked, playing dumb in an attempt to put off the inevitable.

"So, we should invite Beckett," Martha said, in a tone of voice that implied her son was being particularly obtuse about the whole thing.

"Oh yeah, and we can try out that new restaurant we were talking about earlier," her co-conspirator had added.

"Perfect! I'll call Brian about the tickets!" Martha said with a grin.

Castle realized he needed to put his food down now, or he'd never be able to. "WOAH! Can we slow down just a bit? We haven't even asked her yet. I appreciate that you like her, and want to get to know her, but, I've just gotten back on her good side. Don't you think you're coming on a bit strong?"

"I thought she wasn't mad at you anymore," Martha pointed out slyly. "You seemed pretty friendly last night."

"She's not." Castle had insisted. He could feel himself getting flustered. This was not good. "But I don't want to push her too quickly."

"Push her?" Martha had asked, with a laugh. Unless she missed her mark her son was defensive, and discomposed. "Push her where? It's just dinner and a play with some friends, unless you had some other ulterior motive of course."

"Well, no, but..."

But then his daughter had taken up the cause, "Besides, she's not mad at us Dad. And we like her."

"Well, yes, that's true," he'd been forced to agree. "And I think it's great that you like Beckett sweetie, you know I do."

"So why don't you let Gran call her friend and _see _about getting the tickets?" Alexis suggested. "If she can't get them it's a moot point anyways. And then you can wait a couple of days before you talk to Beckett, settle back in."

Castle felt like they'd steamrolled right over him. "I guess. Alright, call Brian about the tickets. But I make no promises, she might be busy you know. The woman does have a life."

But Martha was far from discouraged, "Then we'll just have to do it another time won't we?" was all that she'd said.

"Speaking of Beckett," Castle added, "I've got to go. Case and all. I'll see you guys tonight. Mother, try and stay out of trouble. Daughter, try and get in some. Not too much, just a little."

"I'll see what I can do." Alexis remarked dryly. "Bye Dad. Oh, remember Taylor and I are going shopping after school today."

"I remember," he promised. "Bye sweetie. Call if you need anything."

What Castle didn't know of course was that as soon as he'd closed the door, the conversation had continued.

"Well that went well I thought," Alexis told her grandmother.

"It did." Martha agreed. "Did you see how he tried to look reluctant when any fool can tell what he really wants is to be around that woman as much as possible?"

"Yeah, I caught that," Alexis said with a laugh.

"Unfortunately the play won't be for a couple of weeks," Martha pointed out, "but he was right about one thing, we don't want to push."

"True, but what if we could get her here sooner, more informally?" Alexis asked.

"Oh, I like the sounds of this." Martha said, leaning in towards her granddaughter. "What do you have in mind?"

"The beginning of a plan," Alexis had told her grandmother with a conspirator's smile. "I thought I'd stop by the precinct after my shopping trip."

xxxxx

Castle was having trouble getting the conversation with his family out of his head all morning. The idea of Beckett going out with his family had an undeniable appeal. He flashed back to the evening before, and then that morning she'd showed up at his door to return a necklace, but then had ended up staying for eggs. She'd certainly fit in well... But he wanted to figure out exactly what this thing between them _was_ before she was caught up in a tornado of his female relatives' machinations. Not that he didn't want her around or course, but he didn't want her around as some sort of friend of the family. He was thrilled that she and Alexis got along. Really he was. But call him selfish and egotistical, he wanted her there because she wanted to spend time with _him_.

On the other hand, maybe he was looking at this the wrong way. Maybe he should be using her obvious affection for his family to his advantage, as a kind of a lure to help reel her in. It was an intriguing idea. As long as he got exactly what he wanted in the end. Because wasn't that what he wanted anyways? He _wanted_ her at family functions. And he _wanted_ her to get to know Martha and Alexis. And he wanted to get to know her better. To spend time with her. To kiss her, and... other things. So maybe he should take advantage of his family's plotting. They couldn't be smug about it if they didn't know he was on the same page. Besides, Beckett stood much less of a chance of saying no to multiple Castle's.

Of course there was always a chance the woman in question would just decide to give into their mutual attraction when confronted with his obvious charm and throw herself into his arms (even if it hadn't worked _yet_). Which brought him back to Beckett and the fact that she'd been oddly subdued that morning. She wasn't avoiding him, and she was friendly whenever he spoke to her. But every time he touched her she tensed up. And he'd been finding excuses to touch her all morning: brushing up against her on his way to get coffee, grabbing her elbow to get her attention, even going so far as to brush a stray hair behind her ear for her when both her hands had been busy on her computer. It was kind of flattering, but he wanted her relaxed. He wanted her comfortable. He definitely didn't want to give her any excuse to run in the opposite direction from what was going on between them.

He snuck a glance at her, over at her desk. She looked discouraged, and distracted. And, he noticed, she needed a coffee re-fill. All of which added up to the perfect excuse to ask her to lunch.

xxxxx

So now they were walking to the hotdog stand, both trying to pretend that nothing was different between them. That they did this sort of thing all the time.

Beckett broke the silence first. "Ugh, and it's a nice day too."

Castle looked on in amusement, "That a bad thing detective?"

She smiled wryly. "No, but I always find a frustrating case worse when the weather's nice. Thinking of all the things you could be doing outside instead of sitting at a desk, making calls and going through files searching for an elusive lead. It makes the frustration worse somehow."

"Hey, none of that. This is supposed to be a distraction."

"Right, sorry."

"Don't apologize. It's just that the defeated attitude doesn't suit you Detective," Castle told her. "So tell me, what would you be doing outside on a day like this if you didn't have to work. I'm curious."

She laughed at that. "Of course you are. You've been watching me for months now Castle, seem to think you know me pretty well. What do you think?"

He grinned, argumentative Kate. This was much better. "Well, I suppose you could go swimming, though I'm not sure that the weather is entirely warm enough for that, but I like the resulting wardrobe..."

"Castle," she said in warning, but she couldn't quite keep the laugh out of her eyes.

"I'm kidding Detective. Well, partly at least. I'm sure you look very good in a bathing suit. More seriously though, I don't know. Maybe out-door rock climbing? One of those tai-chi classes or something. Or are you a jogger Detective? Do you like a solitary run through the park? Nikki Heat of course spends most of her free time at the shooting range when she's not out at the clubs. But as you enjoy telling me, you're not Nikki Heat are you?"

"No, Castle. I'm not Nikki Heat. And though I'm more than competent with a gun, I don't spend all my free time at a shooting range. Rock-climbing on the other hand, was right."

"Really?" He asked, inordinately pleased that he'd guessed correctly.

"Uh huh. Not Tai Chi though." Kate told him. "I've always been more of a fan of jujutsu myself, but not on a day like today. Today's a day for being outside. Running's an option, but I've always been more of a sporadic runner. Never enjoyed it enough to make it a regular thing. I mean I try, but I don't always succeed." She pushed her hair behind her ears subconsciously. "Today'd be a good day for a walk in the park though. Maybe a pick-up game of soccer of Frisbee or something."

"We could go for a walk in the park," he pointed out.

But unsurprisingly she shook her head. "We can't. We've got a case. And we need to find out who our victim is. He deserves it."

"He does." Castle responded seriously, catching her eyes. "Rain check then?"

She smiled softly then. "I'd like that."

He smiled back, and reached for her hand, "Kate..." But before he could say anything else she was jostled by a passerby rushing to get somewhere. Beckett was forced to drop his hand and move away to avoid being run-over by the man. Whoever he was, Castle decided he hated him. Whatever had been between them had been snapped by the interruption.

Kate turned back to him self-consciously. "Well, here we are. I guess we should get those hotdogs."

"Yeah." He said, trying to tamp down on his disappointment. There would be other opportunities. He'd make sure of it. And if he didn't, Martha and Alexis would. He turned to the hotdog vendor, "Hi. Can I get one with everything on it? And you Detective."

"Just mustard," she'd replied.

"And one with just mustard. Oh, and can I get a coke and..."

"Coke's fine with me."

"Two cokes then."

And after grabbing their food and paying the man they wandered over to a nearby bench and sat down.

"Okay, see, there's something about a hotdog on the street." Castle said, breaking the silence. "It tastes so much better than it really should. Not sure why."

"Atmosphere maybe?" Kate asked. "It does just seem to work."

"Maybe it's just how portable they are," the writer suggested.

"Maybe..." she'd said, her voice trailing off.

"Hey, you still with me?" Castle asked concerned.

"Hmm?"

"You okay Beckett?" He asked again.

Shaking herself, and telling herself to pay attention she turned back to him. "Yeah, sorry. Just spaced out for a second there. Sorry about that."

He grinned. "Am I not entertaining enough for you Detective? Would you like me to juggle?"

She laughed. "Can you really juggle?"

"Does it surprise you?" He countered.

"Not a bit." She retorted. "I wouldn't be surprised if you were also an amateur magician. You're certainly sneaky enough for it."

"I might have a couple of tricks up my sleeve," Castle said with a smile.

Kate just laughed. She was sure he did. Then her smile faded. "My Dad and I used to do this a lot." Now why had she told him that? Damn Castle and his being stupidly easy to talk to.

Oh. _Oh._ God what did he say? What _could_ he say? Did he have the right to say anything? Damn, damn, damn, damn. But he couldn't say _nothing_. He took a deep breath, "You don't do it much anymore?"

"No." She told him. Well, she'd started this, she had no one to blame but herself. "We don't see each other much. I mean, we see each other sometimes of course, and we talk pretty regularly now. But we don't do a lot of the stuff we used to." She wasn't about to tell him it was still too painful. Of course, with his stupid perceptiveness he'd probably be able to read between the lines. "Like I said before, we're doing better, but we're still not... We're just not as close as we used to be."

"I'm sorry," Castle told her. And he was. For all that his mother drove him up the wall they _were _close, and he wouldn't have it any other way.

She tried to shrug it off. "It's not your fault. And we are doing better."

"Maybe next time you see him you guys should grab a hotdog," he suggested. "It doesn't need to be a big thing. I'm sure that on some your occasional meetings you end up walking by hotdog stands. They're not exactly rare."

"Maybe," she said. Then she shook herself out of her mood. "Sorry. This was supposed to be a break wasn't it?"

"Yes, but Detective, you know I don't mind. If you ever need to talk..."

"I know, but..."

Did she? Did she really know? It was suddenly very important to him that she did. "I mean it Beckett. If you need to talk..."

She found a smile to send him then. "_I know_ Castle. _Really_. And thanks." She blushed slightly before changing the subject. "What about you and Alexis? You ever go for hotdogs."

He was too pleased by the fact that he was apparently a trusted confidant to mind the change in subject. Besides, he never minded talking about his daughter. To people who actually cared about her of course. "You kidding? All the time. You forget Detective, I spent years in the park. We used to get hotdogs as a treat for lunch on Fridays. Alexis loved it. Wouldn't get anything on her hotdog except ketchup of course, most of which ended up all over her shirt more often than not. Like I said, best memories of my life."

It really wasn't fair. It just wasn't fair how charming he was when he talked about his daughter. Yes, he was charming when he was flirting with her and she'd be the first to admit the banter was fun, but when he raved about his daughter. Well, a girl just didn't stand a chance. She certainly didn't. Couldn't stop the surge of affection. And all her walls just crumbled before she could stop them.

But did she want to stop them? She was beginning to think that she didn't. Didn't want to at all. Not that they really had the time to go into this now, but it was something to talk about.

Unfortunately, Castle never seemed to recognize the advantage when he had it. "I guess we should get back. Start canvassing those costume stores. We do have a murder to solve after all."

Beckett nodded. "Yes we do." She stood, throwing her hotdog wrapper into the garbage, ignoring the twinge in her stomach that felt suspiciously like disappointment. He _was _right after all. "Come on Castle. Let's go solve this case."

"Right behind you Detective."

"And Castle?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

"No Detective, thank you."

Kate smiled when he took her arm and walked her back to the precinct. They had plenty of time to figure this thing out.

Neither of them noticed it, but the walk back to the station was far less awkward than the walk away from it.

xxxxx

When Kate got back to the station she decided to check in with Ryan and Esposito.

"Hey guys, got anything?" she asked.

"Nah, no one in missing persons matched our guy." Ryan told her.

"That would have been too easy." Kate muttered under her breath. "Alright, well, we've got nothing here so we're going to start canvassing costume stores. You guys want to take half?"

"Sure," Esposito agreed good-naturedly. "Hey, where'd you guys go?"

"Lunch." Castle told him.

That got the other man's attention. "Lunch?" he asked with a grin. Castle must be smooth if she'd gotten Beckett out of the station in the middle of a case when they didn't even have a lead.

"Yeah, lunch." Beckett told him. "We grabbed a couple of hotdogs down the street."

"And you didn't think to bring us back anything?" Ryan asked, faking hurt.

"You guys were busy. And I'm sure you're both old enough to take care of your own meals." Beckett retorted.

"Still would have been nice to be invited," Esposito pointed out.

"Come on man," Ryan told his partner. "We can go get our own lunch."

"Yeah, and it'll be better than a hotdog stand too," Esposito agreed.

"That falafel place on the corner?" Ryan suggested.

"Perfect."

"Call me if you find anything about the costume!" Beckett called after them as they left the precinct. Esposito just waved a hand in her direction in response, acknowledging the request. "Sometimes I swear I work with a bunch of five-year olds."

"Hey!" Castle retorted. "What did I do?"

"Do you really want to go there Castle?" Beckett asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Fair enough." He replied. "Anyways, they're just jealous because I like you better."

Beckett decided to ignore that. "Come on Castle. We've got costume places to visit."

"Right behind you detective."

xxxxx

Several hours later the pair returned to the precinct. The good news was they had a tentative ID. One Frederick Morrow. Turns out he'd bought more than one costume from the same store over the years and they'd all been custom made. Customization meant leaving a credit card number so the store wasn't just left in the lurch if no one came by to pick up the card. Not only did they have a probably ID, but they also had the name of a potential friend of his who also liked to dress up as a teddy bear.

Kate would have been in a better mood if shopping with Castle hadn't been equal parts exasperating and entertaining. She should have known he'd have the attention span of a three year old when he stepped inside a store. What she really hadn't been prepared for was his enthusiasm for costumes. In fact, he even knew some of the owners, and knew them pretty well at that. Beckett rolled her eyes as she remembered their afternoon.

"Ooh. Iron Man costume!" He'd said the second they walked into one of the many stores they'd visited. "So cool, such a good movie." Then before she could say anything in response to that he was trying on a cowboy hat.

"Planning a trip to the old West?" she'd asked him.

"Nope. Planning my Halloween costume," he'd corrected.

"Isn't it a little early to be thinking about Halloween?"

"Bite your tongue Detective! It's never too early to be thinking about Halloween."

"Really," she'd remarked dryly.

But Castle had ignored her lack of enthusiasm. "Really! It's one of the best nights of the year. You dress up, there's lots of candy, there's the Halloween parties. What's not to like?"

"Besides the fact that all the crazies come out to play?" she'd asked sarcastically. "I should have known you'd like Halloween. And not an hour ago you objected when I said I worked with children."

"You wound me Detective." He'd said. "But you're right, I do love Halloween. Alexis and I throw a huge party every year. Which you are invited to of course. You should start planning your costume."

"It's months away!" Beckett exclaimed. "I think I've got time."

"You can never start planning too early Detective. I think I saw a Wonder Woman costume over there. You could try it on," Castle suggested with a leer.

"Castle!"

And so it had gone, all afternoon. Castle trying on various hats, and prosthetic noses, and draping feather boas around her shoulders, clearly having the time of his life. Although, to his credit, whenever they actually talked to the manager about the case he sobered up immediately. And damn if the man hadn't looked good in a fedora.

Besides, as she'd said, they had an ID, so she figured she could allow herself a couple minutes of amusement.

Beckett walked up to Ryan and Esposito, "So you guys find anything on Frederick Morrows?" she asked.

"Unmarried, lives alone in an apartment building not too far from here. Only child, but his parents are still alive and living in the city. They're on their way in now to identify the body," Esposito told her.

"No criminal record, held a steady job." Ryan continued. "We called his boss; he was a waiter at a restaurant. He was generally well liked, no trouble. Didn't know of any problems with other employees, although I guess it might be worth going down there to do a couple of interviews."

Beckett nodded absently. "And we've got to talk to Melissa Townsend, the woman who also bought a teddy bear costume at the same time as our victim. He was in the costume when he died, maybe that had something to do with his death."

"Which do you want to do?" Esposito asked her.

"I've got to wait here for next of kin. Why don't you guys head over to the restaurant and Castle and I will see if we can find Melissa."

"Alright," Esposito said agreeably.

"Hey, you think the parents knew about the whole teddy bear thing?" Ryan asked.

"I sure hope so." Beckett replied, "Or telling the parents their son is dead is going to be even worse than usual."

Ryan just winced in sympathy.

xxxxx

As it turned out the parents _did_ know. All things considered they were remarkably supportive of the whole thing. Apparently their son had some self-esteem issues, and dressing as a teddy bear had been part of his way of coping. Neither of them were overly pleased with the choice, didn't understand it. But they had tried to support their son. Couldn't imagine who would have wanted to hurt him. They hadn't known where Frederick would have been the night before, but suggested asking the people he worked with. He had long hours at the restaurant after all. Both mother and father had looked devastated, and Beckett believed their grief was genuine. Whoever had murdered Frederick Morrows, it wasn't her parents.

When Kate had asked about Melissa, his mother had sighed. "Yes, we knew her. Poor girl. She'll be devastated. She was Frederick's girlfriend. They'd been seeing each other for almost two years now. They met at one of their... well, I don't know what they call them exactly. They met when they were out with mutual friends. She seemed like a nice enough girl, a little shy, but nice enough. Frederick sure liked her. You don't think she had anything to do with this do you? Because I don't believe it. You're wrong.. She was a bit odd, but I don't think she'd hurt him."

Kate hastened to reassure the older woman, "No Mrs. Morrows. We're just trying to talk to as many people who might have seen Frederick as possible. Figure out why he might have been where he was."

"Of course," his mother nodded. "I think I have her address and phone number if you like. Frederick gave it to us, in case of emergencies."

"Thank-you both very much," Beckett told them. "I'm so sorry for your loss. We will do our best to find out who did this."

"Detective?" Mr. Morrows asked her.

"Yes?" Beckett asked.

"Did he suffer? Frederick I mean."

"No." Beckett replied. At least she could give this poor couple that. "Our M.E. figured death would have been almost instantaneous. He probably wasn't in pain very long."

"Well that's something I guess," the poor father remarked. "Thank-you Detective."

"Of course. And feel free to call me if either of you think of anything."

With that Kate left them to their grief.

"You okay?" Castle asked her as she joined him at the murder board.

"I'm fine. Let's get this guy shall we?"

Realizing she wanted to change the subject, he let her. "No problem. Did they know Melissa?"

"Actually they did. They seemed to like her too, even with the dressing up, which by the way, they also knew about She was Fred's girlfriend. Almost two years now. I've got an address and everything. Why don't we go pay her a visit?"

"After you Detective."

xxxxx

Sadly neither their visit to Melissa Townsend nor the guy's visit to the restaurant turned up much. Frederick was generally well liked at work, though most of the other employees hadn't known about the tendency for dress-up, though they hadn't really seemed to care all that surprised. Though Fred was a nice guy, and good with customers, pretty much everyone had admitted their victim had been a little strange. As for Melissa, she'd been devastated. Apparently the pair had been talking about marriage. She'd promised to help any way she could and had provided Beckett with a list of friends they had that attended the same sort of parties they did. Of course, she'd also been quick to point out that she couldn't imagine any of the people they'd met there killing Frederick.

When Beckett got back to the station she prepared herself for a night of research. She needed to go through the list of names Melissa'd given them and see if anybody stood out.

"Need any help?" Castle had asked her.

"Nah," she told him with a smile. "I'm just going to through some files. You should go home. See your family. I'll catch you later."

"You sure?" he asked. "I don't mind staying."

Beckett grinned. "Well, Castle, you're welcome to help sort through the pile if you want, I'm not going to say no."

"Alright," he said, rubbing his hands together. "Research time. Why don't I start at the bottom of the list, you take the top."

"Sounds good."

About an hour later, Ryan interrupted them. "Castle, you have a visitor."

He looked up surprised, "Alexis. Honey, are you okay? Did something happen on the shopping trip?"

Alexis smiled. "I'm fine Dad, don't worry. I was just wondering if you were going to be home for dinner. Gran said she might go out, so if you aren't coming home either I was just going grab something on the way." Then she paused, "Hi Kate, sorry to interrupt."

"Don't worry about it," Kate told the younger woman. "Looks like you had a successful shopping trip," she added, gesturing to the bags by her feet.

Alexis shrugged, "There were good sales on. So Dad, dinner? Or am I grabbing something on my way home?"

Castle was torn, "Well, we were just going through some paperwork here so..."

But before he could finish Beckett had interrupted him. "Castle, go."

"You sure?" He asked.

"Yeah, Kate, I didn't mean to interrupt," Alexis added.

But Beckett was sure. Much as she appreciated the company (though she'd never tell him), it had been a long day. '"Yeah, I got this. We're already almost through it anyways. I'm not going to be here much longer myself. Go have dinner with your daughter. I'll see you tomorrow."

"Until tomorrow then Detective," Castle had added.

"Night." Kate told him. "Night Alexis."

"Bye Kate! See you later," the young girl replied.

Beckett watched them go with a smile, before shaking her head and going back to her file.

xxxxx

A couple of hours later when dinner at the Castle residence was just wrapping up, Martha made an appearance. "Hello! And how are you two today?"

"We're just finishing up with dinner," Alexis answered. "How was your evening?"

"Ugh. My dinner companion was, unfortunately, dreadfully dull. I made my excuses _before_ the desert course," she told them with a sigh.

"Well, I guess you're just too much for some people to handle Mother," Castle told her.

"But if you need some cheering up, we could always do desert here." Alexis pointed out. "Hey Dad, do we have the ingredients for sundaes?"

"When do we _not_ have the ingredients for sundaes?" Castle asked his daughter.

"Good point." Alexis answered. "Waddya say Grams?"

"Why not?" Martha replied. "I could do with a little indulgence."

"Alright, well, why don't you get changed, and we'll clean up here?" Alexis suggested.

"Sounds good. Oh how was the shopping?" Martha asked her granddaughter.

"Good. I'm actually surprised Taylor hasn't called me since I left..." Alexis said, as she checked her pockets. "Hey Dad, have you seen my phone?"

"No." Castle told her, "But I'm sure it's around, and if the ringer's on there's an easy way to find it." He pulled out his cell phone and dialled. "Well, it's ringing, but I don't hear anything. Maybe it's in your room?"

Suddenly, someone answered, "Hello?"

"Beckett?" Castle asked, surprised. "Is that you?"

"Castle?"

"Why do you have Alexis's phone?" he asked her.

"Oh, is that whose this is? She must have left it on my desk when she dropped by. I was just packing up to go when I heard it ringing. I almost didn't answer it. I'll drop it at your place on my way home." Kate told him.

"You don't need to do that. I can just grab it tomorrow," Castle pointed out.

"But then you'll be worried all day because Alexis won't have a phone, and what if something happens," Kate argued. "It's not that far out of my way. I'll just drop it off, I don't mind."

"You really don't need..."

"I know that, Castle, but I want to. I'll see you in a bit," Kate told him, cutting off his argument.

"Okay, thanks Beckett." With that, Castle hung up the phone and turned to his daughter. "You left it on Beckett's desk when you dropped by today. She's bringing it over now."

"Oh, she doesn't need to do that," Alexis said.

Castle shrugged. "You try and talk her out of it then. She said she didn't mind."

"Well, I'm glad she found it at least. It would have been annoying if I had to get a new phone," Alexis admitted.

"Well!" Martha said brightly, "Now that that's settled, I'll go get changed for sundaes. See you two shortly."

"Alright mother." Castle said, as he turned to start the clean-up. If he'd been more observant he would have noticed the wink that passed between grand-mother and grand-daughter. As it was, he was blissfully in the dark.

xxxxx

For the third time in as many days Kate stood outside of the Castle residence and knocked. This time Alexis opened the door. "Hi Kate, come on in," the girl told her. "I'm so sorry about my phone. I don't know what I was thinking. I was texting Paige earlier so I must have just left it on your desk."

Kate laughed. "It's not a problem Alexis, don't worry about it. I'm just glad I hadn't left for the night. Here you go," she told the young girl, as she handed her the phone.

Castle walked out to join them, drying his hands on a towel. "Still, we appreciate it Detective. You didn't have to come all the way over here, so thank-you."

She smiled. "My pleasure." Then, Kate decided it was time to attempt a graceful retreat. "Well..."

Before she could get any further Martha returned from upstairs, "So who's ready for sundaes?" The older woman asked cheerfully.

"I am!" Alexis said readily.

"As am I," Martha agreed. "Well, hello Detective, I didn't see you there. I apologize. I assume you've returned Alexis' all-important cell phone."

Kate laughed, "Yes, I have."

"You know, in my day we got along just fine without electronic devices attached to our hip," Martha remarked.

"Mother, in your day mail was still being delivered by horse and carriage." Castle quipped.

"Watch it," Martha replied quickly.

"Sorry Mother." Castle apologized with a grin.

"Make it up to me by making me a sundae," she told him, then she turned to Kate, "Detective if you're not busy would you like to stay for ice-cream?" she asked.

"Oh, well, I should probably..." Kate started.

"Oh, no please stay!" Alexis said. "It'll make me feel better after you came all this way because of my stupid phone. And trust me, Dad makes a mean sundae. We have _all_ the ingredients."

Kate glanced between the two women between her, torn. She hadn't meant for this to happen, and she really didn't want to keep insinuating herself into their home. But on the other hand, they both seemed so happy to have her there, and she had a bit of a secret weakness for ice-cream. Strangely it was Castle who saved her.

"Guys, much as we'd love for the Detective to stay, she might have other plans," he pointed out, internally rolling his eyes at his relatives. The poor Detective had quite obviously been snared in some sort of joint scheme.

"Plus," Beckett pointed out, "I feel like I'm interrupting your time together."

"Nonsense." Martha told her. "We see each other all the time."

Alexis nodded.

Kate hesitated, struck by how much she wanted to stay. She glanced towards Castle.

He grinned suddenly, realizing she that _wanted_ someone to give her that extra little push. "I'll make yours with extra chocolate sauce," he offered.

She smiled back. "Okay."

xxxxx

TBC


	3. Chapter 3

So this is the chapter where I deal with the case. There will be one more after it I think. And I'd like to thank all my lovely, lovely reviewers. Seriously guys, I really appreciate hearing what you guys think, and you make my day. Oh, and I apologize for the grammatical errors. I am planning on re-posting most of the chapters after I fix them all. I recognize that I'm prone to accidentally typing homophones without thinking. Well, anyways, enjoy chapter 3.

Disclaimer: Still don't own Castle. Sigh.

xxxxx

Castle obligingly led his impromptu guest towards the kitchen. "Alright, four sundaes coming up. You got here just in time Detective, as you can see we've already got most of the ingredients out already."

"Holy crap," was all Kate could say when she got a good look at the counter in the Castle residence. It was covered with bowls of pretty much any ice cream topping you could think of. Smarties, peanuts, sprinkles, chocolate chips, gummy worms, chocolate sauce _and_ butterscotch sauce, whipped cream... there was even a jar of maraschino cherries at the end. "This is _amazing_," she couldn't help saying. "It's like your own personal ice cream shop. Do you do this often?"

Castle laughed at the expression on her face. He also filed away her obvious love of ice cream for later use. You never know when that might come in handy.

Alexis was grinning as well, "Every so often. You can never have too much ice cream. We've got three kinds in the freezer. Well, actually, we've got more than that, but most of them don't go so well with the toppings. I'd recommend sticking to the vanilla, the chocolate or the butterscotch ripple. Hey, Dad, do we have any bananas? We forgot to put those out."

"Yeah, I think they're on top of the breadbox sweetie. You grab them I'll get the ice cream."

"Sure."

Castle grabbed the ice cream from the freezer, when he turned back Beckett was still staring at the counter in awe, an unconscious smile on her face as she examined all the toppings more closely. She was about as unguarded as he'd ever seen her. And the fact that something as silly as a well-stocked ice-cream sundae bar made his Detective _that_ happy made him want to kiss her. Given her desire to keep things fairly private (and his own wish to avoid a family interrogation) he restrained himself, but just barely. He settled for walking up behind her and whispering in her ear.

"Like what you see Detective?" he asked with a smile.

She turned towards him slightly, her smile widening as she tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. "Yeah," she told him honestly. "This looks good Castle. Thanks for asking me to stay."

"Of course," he told her. Then he remembered they weren't alone, and Martha and Alexis were watching them both very carefully. He sighed mentally and moved back slightly. "I'm just glad you're not sitting around at that station alone any more. Sometimes I think you never leave when you're working. Hey, have you even _had_ dinner? You should have something other than ice cream. I'm sure we could scrounge up something."

For some reason his obvious concern amused rather than irritated. "Don't worry Castle, I wasn't alone for long. Karpowski got there not long after you left. She had some paperwork to go through from a robbery she was called out to earlier today. We decided to grab something to eat from Ryan and Esposito's favourite falafel place before we finished up for the night. Ended up trading stories. Apparently her guy was trying to rob a house by digging a tunnel through the basement. Had a miner's helmet and everything." Beckett snorted, "Course it's not the strangest I've heard, though it's probably close. But it's also why I ended up being so late. So yes, I have had dinner. Now I want my ice-cream."

But the writer in Castle's head had been twigged by something else, "Robbery stories? Real life crazy criminals?" he asked excitedly. "I wish I'd been there. Care to share?"

"I could tell you a few if you want, if you're nice to me." Kate said with a grin. "But you should probably get Karpowski to tell you hers herself. She's got a way of telling them... There's something about her complete indifference to the morons, it's pretty funny."

"I'll be sure to remember that." Castle told her, making a mental note to bring Karpowski coffee and one of those muffins she was always eating one day that week. "If I feed you ice cream will you tell me your worst?"

"Maybe," Kate retorted.

"Then off to the couch with you, and I will prepare you a sundae fit for a queen."

"You mean I don't get to choose?" she asked him, mildly disappointed after seeing the possible selections open to her.

"If you insist Detective, but since it's your first time I thought I'd prepare you the Castle-special. Trust me Beckett; it's the mother of all sundaes, the perfect frozen treat, the ideal guilty pleasure. In other words, a masterpiece of a dessert if I do say so myself."

"Alright, I suppose I'll trust you." Kate supposed she could let him make it, since she'd already invaded his house. "But I want gummy bears," she added as an afterthought.

"Of course," Castle told her indulgently. "And extra chocolate sauce, as promised."

Throughout this exchange Alexis and Martha had been watching them closely and exchanging significant looks. Sidling over to her granddaughter as they prepared their own sundaes, Martha whispered, "Okay kiddo, either our plan is working unbelievably well, or it's already completely unnecessary."

"You think?" Alexis whispered back.

"Just look at them," Martha said, gesturing with her bowl.

When her father looked at them suspiciously, Alexis put on her most innocent smile. "Well, my ice cream's ready. Come on Kate, let's go over to the couch."

"Sure," Beckett agreed readily, leaving Martha alone with her son. Martha waited until the other woman was out of ear shot before starting her own brand of interrogation.

"You two seem cozy," she remarked casually.

"_Mother_," Castle said in warning, already fairly sure he knew where this was headed.

"What?" Martha said, keeping her tone as innocent as possible. "I was _just_ saying that you two look awfully comfortable..."

"We're trying to work things out mother, you know that. Don't. Push."

Martha laughed to herself. Yeah, work things out by getting closer than you were before, she thought. She was on to him. But she knew mentioning it would immediately put him on the defensive, and possibly cause him to dig his heels in. _Men._ Instead she tried a different approach. "Of course not dear. And I'm not trying to poke my nose in," she decided to ignore his raised eyebrows and sound of utter disbelief, "But I couldn't help noticing that the lovely Detective certainly didn't take too much convincing to stay."

He decided to play it off with a joke, "Well could resist our charms mother? Not to mention all the ice cream."

Martha gave him a knowing look. "Just don't wait too long dear. You know we only want you to be happy."

Castle sighed, she drove him up the wall, but somehow it was damn near impossible to stay mad at Martha Rogers. "I know. But please dial back the plots a little would you? I really don't want to push her too hard."

"If you insist dear, but like I said, don't wait too long. After all, she might be more open to change than you think." With that Martha waltzed into the other room.

Castle grimaced as he prepared a pair of matching sundaes. Why was he always surrounded by meddling females? He loved them, really he did. But there were times when he distinctly felt the lack of testosterone. A male ally would have made some things so much easier sometimes.... but they might also provide competition. Oh, he didn't like the sound of that. He had enough problems without someone else coming on the scene. Like for example that Neanderthal-like ex-boyfriend of hers. Who had a jaw that chiselled? _Really?_ Clearly there was something shady going on there. Whatever had happened to him anyways? Maybe Beckett had sent him packing. That thought made him ridiculously pleased, until he realized that he'd spent the last thirty seconds being jealous of a man that, for all he knew, she wasn't even in regular contact with anymore.

There was a chance he was in even bigger trouble then he'd thought.

And he wasn't even sure she had any idea. Sure she knew he was attracted to her. He'd made that abundantly clear. But, what did she think his intentions were exactly? And what were hers? He heard her laugh coming from his living room, mingling with his mother's and his daughters. He sighed. _That _was what he wanted. He wanted to be able to hear _that_ on a regular basis. He wanted a relationship. He hadn't realized it quite so clearly before, but now he knew. So Castle guessed he just had to make sure that Beckett knew. Well, that and hope and pray she wanted the same thing.

He finished making their sundaes, and took a minute to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything (including the extra chocolate sauce and gummy bears on the one in his left hand). They looked pretty good. And hey, maybe if he made her the world's best sundae she'd decide she couldn't live without him. You never know, it could happen. She _had_ seemed pretty excited at the prospect of ice cream.

"Alright ladies, what did I miss?" he asked as he walked into the living room. Three smiling faces turned towards him.

"Oh, Martha was just telling me a story about how on your first book tour you somehow ended up on a flight to Seattle when you were supposed to be going to Florida," Kate said with a grin. "You do know those are on opposite sides of the country right Castle?"

Castle glared at his female relatives, but his heart wasn't in it. "Okay Detective, how is it that every time you're anywhere _near_ my family they immediately start in on the top 100 embarrassing moments of my life? And you two!" he said turning to Martha and Alexis, "Couldn't you maybe throw in the odd story to make me look good."

"Just trying to keep you honest," Martha remarked casually while Alexis giggled.

Castle gave an exaggerated sigh before turning back to Beckett. "Your ice-cream Madame. Complete with gummy bears," he told her as he handed her the bowl.

Focussing for the first time on what was in his hands, Kate's eyes widened in shock. "Think you could have made that any bigger Castle? I'll never get through this."

Castle grinned, "You say that now, but wait until you try it. I have faith in you Detective."

Kate took the offered ice-cream with a smile. "Well, it does look good. So thank-you." Taking the spoon she decided to dig right in. "Wait, does this have chocolate and vanilla ice cream in it?" she asked.

"That's the Castle way," he told her as he sat down on the other end of the couch. "Plus extra gummy worms for the lady."

Her smile widened. "Well, it's very good. And since you're being so nice to me I suppose I could tell you about some of the stranger robberies I've heard about or seen since I've been on the force. Unless there are any objections of course," she added, glancing at Alexis and Martha.

"Oh, no, of course not." Martha told her. "I'm used to crazy stories. I've spent most of my life around the theatre, after all."

Alexis grinned, "Yeah, and at least robberies don't necessarily end in gruesome murders. Trust me, I've been Dad's sounding board for years. Nothing you could tell me would be worse than some of his ideas."

"I can well imagine." Kate told her, as Castle yelled, "Hey!"

Kate grinned again, "Alright then, well... I think my personal favourite was the guy who planned to steal a bunch of high-end pieces from an electronics store and then escape with them across the river in an inflatable raft. Unfortunately, our aspiring thief wasn't the brightest tool in the shed and he didn't take into account the weight of the electronics on the buoyancy of his raft. By the time we caught up to him he was bailing with all his might just trying to stay afloat. I'll never forget the expression on his face when...."

She continued on with her story of criminal ineptitude, but Castle found he didn't really care about the details anymore as he watched her chatting animatedly with his relatives while she ate her ice cream. Perfect, this was just perfect.

xxxxx

A little while later three people were still lounging in the Castle living room. Martha had finished her ice cream early, and after starting the clean-up had excused herself to make a phone call. Alexis had also finished, and having taken up a book was half-reading it, half paying attention to the conversation around her. Beckett and Castle were still on the couch lingering over the ends of their ice cream, chatting idly.

To Kate's surprise she had managed to finish her massive sundae. All three Castles were entertaining story-tellers in their own right, so she figured she must have just gotten so caught up in the conversation that she hadn't noticed. Glancing at her watch she realized it was much later than she'd realized. "I should probably get going," she told her host.

He sighed, "Yeah. I guess it's getting late. Here, let me get that for you." He offered, taking her bowl. Kate stood and stretched. "Well, it was nice seeing you again Alexis. I'm sure we'll meet again."

Alexis tore herself away from her book. "Oh, yeah." She said with a smile. "I'll see you later Kate." When she moved to stand Kate stopped her.

"Oh don't worry about it," the Detective said with a smile. "I know how annoying it can be to have to move when you're in the middle of a good book. I'm sure Castle is more than capable of seeing me out."

Alexis nodded her silent agreement. "Bye Detective! Thanks for bringing my phone and thanks for staying for ice cream."

Kate laughed, "Thanks for offering," then she walked over to Castle in the hall.

"Well," he told her as he held her coat for her. "I guess I will see you bright and early tomorrow morning."

"Absolutely," she told him. "And hey, you never know, maybe the murderer will walk in after you and confess."

"There's that positive attitude I missed all day!" Castle told her with a laugh.

"Must be the ice-cream I guess," Beckett said with a shrug.

"I'll keep that in mind," he told her.

Castle moved to open the apartment door for her, vaguely wondering the best way to say good-bye. A hug seemed too intimate, a handshake too cold. He'd just decided that maybe he should do nothing when Beckett made the decision for him. Placing her hand on his shoulder she kissed him on the cheek. "Thanks for the ice-cream Castle. You really do make a good sundae. Almost makes up for half the stuff you do to tick me off," then sending him another quick smile she left.

Castle stood in the doorway for a second, watching her get on the elevator. Then he shut his door, and turned back to his own apartment, trying to contain an undignified happy dance. He wandered out to the living room, "Well that was fun," he commented to his daughter.

"Yeah," she said, seemingly engrossed in her book.

Pleased that at least one member of his family appeared to be mature enough not to needle him about his (hopefully) potential love life, he turned to head into his office. "Alright, well I'm going to try and get some writing done in my office, so if you need anything..."

"Alright, thanks Dad," Alexis said, still not taking her eyes off her book.

Castle turned to leave, and just before he left the room he heard, "Dad and Beckett sitting in a tree, K-I-S-S-..."

Shutting the door behind him Castle resisted the urge to turn and bang his head against it. Repeatedly.

xxxxx

Ryan and Esposito arrived at the station the next morning to a sight they'd come to know well. Castle and Beckett were standing across from the murder board discussing the case. They'd all seen it before, but for some reason there was something slightly different about it this time.

Watching from the break room as while they grabbed their first coffees of the morning Esposito tried to put his finger on it. "You think they realize they're not even speaking in full sentences anymore?" he asked his partner.

Ryan grinned, "I doubt it. But apparently that's a thing." At his partner's blank look he continued, "Yeah. Apparently if you spend enough time with someone you start to sound like them, you know, talk like them. And so you get so used to communicating that you don't always have to finish your sentences."

"Huh." Esposito said. "But we've been working together longer than they have, how come we're not like that."

"Maybe we are and we just don't notice," Ryan said with a shrug.

Both men looked at each other, "Nah." Esposito said.

Ryan gestured back to the pair they were really interested in. "So what you think happened between them. I mean, two weeks ago she was threatening to go after him with pretty much anything that came to hand, if she'd talk about him at all, and now they're all buddy-buddy again."

Esposito shrugged, "I don't know, and I don't wanna know. At least things are running smoothly around here."

Ryan couldn't help himself though. "Hey you think he bought her a gift?"

"Like what, he's a millionaire?" Esposito pointed out. "He could get her almost anything"

"A new car maybe?" Ryan suggested.

"Oooh. Or a motorcycle! Can you picture Beckett on a motorcycle?" Esposito asked.

Ryan paused to appreciate the image that called up, before coming up with another suggestion. "Or jewellery. Women like jewellery!"

"But Beckett doesn't really seem like the kind of woman fancy gifts would work on..." Esposito pointed out.

Ryan sighed, "True. Hey, maybe he threw himself at her feet and offered to be her personal slave."

"Or maybe he just let her kick the crap out of him," Esposito suggested.

Ryan nodded his head at that possibility.

"Or maybe you two should get to work," Captain Montgomery said behind them.

Both men turned guiltily. Ryan tried to talk their way out of the whole they were in first, "Ah sir... We were just..."

But the Captain had seen this far too many times to be fooled for even a second, "You were just gossiping about your colleagues."

"Well..." Ryan said...

"It is a bit of juicy gossip isn't it?" the Captain asked in a perfect deadpan. "Too bad it's none of your damn business."

"No sir." Ryan agreed immediately.

But Esposito was slightly braver, "Did she tell _you_ what happened sir?" he asked.

The Captain decided he might as well answer; he'd get no peace otherwise. "All she said was that she and Castle had come to an agreement and that she'd allow him to shadow her again for his book if he wanted to."

"Huh," Ryan said, thinking about that.

"Yeah, but there's gotta be more to it than that!" Esposito exclaimed.

"Of course there's more to it than that!" The Captain shot back. "Look at them."

The two younger men turned back to their colleagues. "Maybe it's got something to do with the fact that he's her favourite author," Ryan suggested.

"Or maybe he offered her a cut of the profits." Esposito countered.

Captain Montgomery looked at them in shock. "And you two call yourselves Detectives." With that we walked away shaking his head.

Ryan and Esposito glanced at each other before turning their attention back to the pair in front of the murder board. Suddenly Beckett's face lit up. She started animatedly explaining something to Castle before turning back to the board and writing down a flurry of notes. But Castle wasn't even paying attention to what she was writing; instead he was focussed on her face and smiling softly to himself. As abruptly as she'd begun Beckett stopped and the pair of them left the precinct.

"Oh. My. God." Ryan said.

"Yup," Esposito agreed.

"He's in love with her." Ryan said in shocked.

"Yup."

"We so owe Lanie fifty bucks." Ryan told the other man.

Esposito sighed, "I know."

Captain Montgomery shook his head at the two men from the door of his office. Well, at least they'd gotten it half right.

xxxxx

As she left the precinct with Castle, Beckett explained her latest idea. "So I went through the list of Frederick's friends that Melissa gave us and literally nobody jumped out. I called a few of them, but none of them had seen our victim in the last few days. Which leaves us with random person, maybe just someone who hates the idea of grown men dressing up like teddy bears."

"But if that's the case, why was our victim even _in_ costume?" Castle asked. "I mean, it's not like he wore it in his daily life."

"Exactly," Beckett told him. "Which brings me back to our list of friends who knew them."

"But you said none of them jumped out," Castle pointed out.

"Yeah, none of them had _criminal records._" Beckett clarified. "I mean, beyond some minor traffic violations, and a couple of them committed minor crimes as juveniles, plus the odd minor drug charge, but nothing that would indicate they were capable of shooting someone point blank."

By this point Castle had caught on, "But you found another reason that..."

"... someone would jump out as a suspect?" Beckett finished. "Yeah. First on the list of friends Melissa Townsend gave us. One Kyle Frost. Apparently he's been Melissa's best friend for almost ten years now. Her words. She even went so far as to say that she had a bit of a crush on him for a while, but nothing ever came of it. And then she met Frederick and they fell in love. She figured she and Kyle were just meant to be friends."

"So?" Castle asked.

"So," Beckett told him. "What if Kyle had a different idea? According to Melissa she and Frederick started talking about an engagement about a week ago. Don't you think it's a little coincidental that almost immediately after they start talking about getting married the potential groom dies?"

"You think Kyle was in love with her and too scared to do something about it?" Castle asked.

"Maybe. He could have social issues. Heck, maybe that's why he goes to parties where he has to dress up. I don't know Castle, but it's somewhere to start. And it's why we're going to talk to him."

"Yeah, but to wait _ten_ years!" Castle said.

Beckett shrugged, "Sometimes guys aren't the quickest on the uptake where relationships are concerned," she pointed out.

"Yeah, but ten years!" he exclaimed. "That's just asking for someone to swoop in," he glanced at his partner. No way in hell was _he _waiting ten years.

"Maybe he figured she and our vic would never last." Beckett pointed out. "Or maybe Kyle didn't realize how much she meant to him until after he was gone. Anything else is pure speculation until we talk to the guy. Who knows, maybe he has nothing to do with this and he's devastated for both his friends."

"You know, if I'd come up with this idea you'd have laughed and then told me to stop making up stories and look for actual evidence," Castle couldn't help teasing her.

"You have a better idea?" Beckett shot back. "We need to go talk the friends anyways. We've got to start somewhere."

"Fair enough," Castle told her, deciding it might be better if he shut up now.

xxxxx

They found Kyle Frost at home. He seemed upset, although as far as Beckett could tell his grief seemed more focused on "poor Melissa," as he called her than on the victim. He expressed remorse for Frederick's death, but was quick to point out that he'd really only met Frederick through Melissa. That it was her that he'd actually known. He denied having any knowledge of why Fred would have been in the area where his body was found, but did admit it was odd that he was in costume, stating he must have had a reason of some kind. When asked for an alibi he admitted to being home alone where he'd fallen asleep on the couch. But most striking of all was how, at every possible opportunity, Kyle turned the conversation from Frederick to Melissa, only getting truly agitated when Castle mentioned the possibility of an engagement between the two.

"Well, he did it," Castle said as soon as they left the apartment.

"Castle!" Beckett chastised, but her heart wasn't really in it. The guy had been creepy.

"Hey, it was your idea!" Castle told her, defending his conclusion. "And you were right. He's clearly in love with Melissa. Seriously, about midway through I regretted not keeping a mental count of how many times he managed to mention her name over the course of the interview. It's like you said, he probably got jealous and shot the friend."

"Yeah, you're right, it's likely. But right now it's still just a theory. Now we have to prove it. We don't even have a murder weapon."

"So he dumped it," Castle told her. "Heck, maybe he tossed it in the river."

"Great," Beckett sighed. "If that's true we'll never find it."

"So we talk to their other friends. See if they noticed anything weird," Castle suggested.

"Good idea. But there's something else," Beckett said. "Everyone we've talked to involved with the group thought it was strange that our vic was at the warehouse in costume. Why would he be there?"

"I don't know," Castle said. "He must have had a reason."

"So why would he be in his costume alone?" Beckett asked.

"Meeting someone like we thought?" Castle suggested.

"But if that was the case then someone needed to contact him first," Beckett said. "We need to get a hold of Frederick's phone records. I'll call Esposito."

xxxxx

After talking to several of their victim's friends it became clear that the fact that Kyle was in love with Melissa was the worst kept secret within the group. Literally everyone seemed to be aware of it, except Melissa herself, who seemed genuinely shocked when Kate suggested the possibility to her. Melissa was certain that Kyle would have said something in all the time she'd known him if that was the case. The rest of her friends thought less of Mr. Frost. They said his obsession with Melissa at times bordered on creepy. And besides Melissa herself and possibly Frederick, Kyle was not well-liked. Most people found him off-putting, if they spoke to him at all. By all accounts within the community he was a bit of a loner.

Beckett and Castle returned to the precinct and dropped into their respective seats. "Well, it sure looks like he's our guy," Castle told her.

"Yeah, but we still don't have any actual evidence." Beckett countered.

"Hey, what does he drive?" Castle asked.

Beckett glanced up, "People saw an older car at the crime scene." She started typing furiously on her computer. "Frost drives a 1995 Crown Vic. Navy Blue. It matches the description," she told Castle. "Hey Esposito, how's that phone record coming?"

"I've been going over it," the other man told her. "Not much out of the ordinary in the last month or so. Calls to his parents, lots of calls to Melissa. A few to the restaurant, one to one of the other employees a couple of weeks ago. I checked it out, our vic apparently wanted to switch a shift, manager confirmed it. There is one call though, made a couple of hours before our vic was killed."

"And?" Beckett asked.

"And, it's to a pre-paid cell phone. No idea whose, it's completely untraceable."

Beckett dropped her head to her hands. "Of course it is."

Several hours later Beckett was still at her desk, poring over the file. For the second time in as many days she noticed a coffee cup being set down by her elbow. Turning towards Castle she tried to send him a smile. "Thanks," she told him.

"You looked like you needed it," he told her softly.

"It's just, I can't find anything. There's got to be something, something that helps us get this guy. I mean, we _know _it's him, but I can't prove it. We don't have a murder weapon, we don't have a reliable witness. I just feel like I'm missing something," she told him.

"Yeah, I know that feeling," Castle told her. "And apparently so did Kyle Frost. He realized he was missing Melissa. I can't even imagine, being in love with the same woman for ten years and _never _telling her. Not taking that chance, never going for it." He couldn't take his eyes off of her.

She met his eyes briefly, and her gaze widened, before softening. "Castle, we need to talk."

"I know," he told her. "After we solve this case. I promise."

Her lips quirked, "That assumes that we end up solving this case at all."

"Damn straight."

She grinned, "Okay then."

He pulled her chair out from under desk. "Come on, let's get you home. Get some sleep. We'll go over this again in the morning with fresh eyes."

Smiling Beckett stood and took his hand, smiling at his look of surprise. "Come on, let's go."

xxxxx

Castle was unsurprised to see Beckett already at the office when he arrived the next morning. Smiling he strolled over to her desk. "Morning Detective."

She looked up from the pile of files from her desk, "Well someone's cheery this morning," she told him sarcastically.

"That's because _I_ have an idea," he told her. He had a vested interest in closing this case as quickly as possible and he'd spent a good chunk of time the night before trying to come up with a plan.

Beckett's eyes lit up. Sure, sometimes his ideas were idiotic or insane, but sometimes they ended up working. And besides, she was getting desperate. "Okay, let's hear it."

"Well, we think Kyle was in love with Melissa right?"

"Right."

"But she was in love with Frederick, our victim."

"Yes," she told him, making sure she sounded irritated in hopes of making him hurry up his explanation.

"So what happens if he's confronted with her grief over Frederick?"

"You think we should talk to them together," Kate surmised.

"Didn't Melissa say she usually visited Kyle in the mornings, before she went to work?"

Beckett grinned, "Let's go."

xxxxx

They arrived at Kyle's apartment shortly afterwards. He was obviously not thrilled to see them, but agreed to let them in. As they'd expected Melissa was inside.

"Detective, Mr. Castle," she greeted them once she realized who they were. "Is there any news on Fred's killer?"

"We're still making inquiries," Beckett told her. "We just had a few follow up questions."

"Oh," Melissa said, "Well then why don't I just get out of your hair?"

"Actually, we wanted to talk to you both," Castle told her.

"Both of us?" Melissa asked, surprised.

"Yes, we just had a couple of follow-up questions if you don't mind," Beckett confirmed, "And then we'll be on our way. If that's alright with you two of course."

"Oh of course," Melissa agreed immediately. "Anything to help."

Neither investigator missed the fact that Kyle's offer to cooperate was much less enthusiastic.

Beckett decided she might as well start, well that and pray that her line of questioning didn't cause too much pain to the innocent. "Mr. Frost, how long have you been in love with Ms. Townsend?"

Kyle blanched, "I don't... what do you..."

Castle interjected, "Oh come on man. Everyone knew. All your friends told us. You're always around her. You followed her around like a little lost puppy. But you never made a move, so you got delegated to the dreaded 'friend zone.'"

"No," Kyle tried to deny.

"No?" Beckett asked. "Melissa, how many times a week would you estimate that Kyle called you?"

Melissa paused, "About ten to fifteen I guess, but I really don't think..."

Beckett interrupted, "Ten to fifteen. That's a lot, even for a _best _friend. I sure don't talk to my best friend that many times a week. What about you Castle?"

"Nope. Nowhere near," Castle confirmed.

Beckett continued, "And then Frederick came on the scene. And Melissa got busy. And at first I bet you thought that it wouldn't last. That she'd break up with him, just like she'd broken up with all the guys before him. And you'd be the only man in her life again. But that didn't happen, did it? They started talking about engagements. Maybe Frederick even asked your opinion on a ring. And you couldn't have that could you? So you called him, and you arranged a meeting, and when you got there you shot him."

"No!" Kyle cried. "Melissa, I swear, I had nothing to do with this!"

"Detective, there must be some mistake," Melissa told Beckett, her voice wavering.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think so," Beckett told her softly. Turning towards Kyle her tone changed, "Kyle did you _like_ Fred? Did you get along, or did you tolerate him for your friend? You can't honestly expect me to believe that you thought he knew Melissa better than you did. That he was the one who could make her happy. After all, you've known her almost five times as long!"

"He didn't deserve her!" Kyle cried. "He didn't know her like I did!"

While Beckett had been laying it into Kyle, Castle pulled out his phone and dialled. Suddenly Kyle's outburst was interrupted by the sound of a ringing phone. Everyone in the room paused.

"What's that?" Melissa asked.

"I'll tell you what that is," Castle told her, walking in the direction of the noise. "That is the sound of the phone that someone used to Kyle called before going to a meeting in that warehouse." Bending down Castle fished briefly through the garbage in the corner, before pulling out a ringing phone. "Should have gotten it out of your apartment," he told the other man.

"Kyle..." Melissa started, sounding distraught.

"So I called Fred and he called me back!" Kyle yelled. "We knew each other. We talked!"

"So why throw out the phone?" Beckett asked, "Unless you had something to hide."

"Kyle, please tell me you had nothing to do with this," Melissa pleaded.

Turning to the woman who was near tears beside him Kyle changed his tone. "Melissa, it's better this way, don't you see. He didn't know you like I did. I had to do it. He didn't deserve you."

"So you killed him?" she screamed.

"I did it because I love you," Kyle cried. "I called him, told him to call me back, told him there was a party, that you'd be there. He showed up in costume, wandered into the parking lot and I shot him."

"Alright, that's enough. Kyle Frost, you're under arrest for the murder of Frederick Morrows," Beckett told the other man. "Castle, call for back-up." And with that she proceeded to hand-cuff and arrest Kyle Frost.

xxxxx

"He was her best friend," Beckett told Castle back at the station.

"Yeah," he told her. "But he was also crazy."

"She still lost her best friend and her fiancée in the same week. I can't even imagine what she's going through," Beckett said with a sigh, "That poor woman."

"She's got the rest of her friends, and they seem like a pretty tight-knit group" Castle pointed out. "And she's strong. She'll make it," he told her optimistically.

"I hope so," was all Beckett said.

"Hey Beckett," Captain Montgomery called from across the station. "Sounds like Kyle Frost is going to go away for a long, long time. Good job you two."

"Thank-you sir," she told her boss with a nod. Somehow the praise wasn't making her feel any better after this one. She was so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she didn't realize Castle was watching her.

"I'm going to go grab some coffee before I head out, you want any?" he asked.

"Nah, I've had so much caffeine in the last few days that if I drink any more I won't be able to sleep for a week," she told him. "But thank-you."

"Okay," he said with a slight nod.

Beckett wandered over to her desk to finish her paperwork, sat down and stood back up again almost immediately, choosing to wander around the precinct. She couldn't deal with the paperwork now. She couldn't get Melissa's face out of her head. Hers or Kyle's. Poor deluded Kyle. He'd waited ten years to tell the woman he loved how he felt, and when she found someone else, he went crazy. He'd been so scared, so afraid to try, to go after what he wanted, that he'd ended up ruining his own life and his best friend's.

She sighed. Is that what she was doing? Minus the crazy part of course. Was she scared? Lanie was always yelling at her to take chances, to let people in. But she almost never did. She'd always had trouble risking it all when it mattered, making up her mind and admitting what she actually wanted.

And what did she want? What about her and Castle? They'd been dancing around each other for over a year now. Sure they'd been dancing more closely for the past week or so, but would it take another ten for either one of them to actually do anything about it? He'd been nothing but patient, and understanding, and sweet, but let's face it, she already knew that he was considered a great catch by the female members of the New York social register. How long before someone else swooped in and stole his heart. After all, he wouldn't be writing about Nikki Heat forever. And even if the character morphed into a series in her own right, after a while he'd eventually complete his research, and he wouldn't need to follow her around anymore.

So the question then became, what was she going to do about it? Or was she even going to do anything? Was she too afraid? Was he not worth it? _Or _was the only reason that she hadn't done something already (apart from the obvious fear of rejection) that she was worried it would screw up their working relationship, that she was terrified of losing him? Because if that was all that was stopping her then she was a coward. A horrible, horrible coward. And she needed to stop stringing him along. It wasn't fair to either of them.

Because if she wanted him, then she needed to go for it. She flashed back to the past few weeks, the betrayal she'd felt over his breach of trust. That wouldn't have hurt nearly as badly if he didn't matter. Spending time with his family. God that had been fun. Spending time with him. Oh, she wanted more of that. Because he was fun too, in oh so many ways. And if she was being honest, she liked it. And kissing him... well, the man was without doubt an excellent kisser. And he was smart. _And_ he appreciated that she was smart. He liked that she read plays. He was impressed when she knew something about graphic novels. He didn't want her to dumb herself down. He even seemed to like that she was constantly challenging him. And the feeling was mutual, oh so very mutual.

She found herself in one of the observation rooms at the precinct and started pacing back and forth in her distraction. They could be good together. Now that she was being honest with herself it was obvious. They could be very, very good together. She was sick and tired of trying to hide how she felt, of pretending she felt less than she did, just in case he didn't feel the same way. And okay, maybe he didn't, she couldn't be sure. But she was pretty sure he was at least interested.

To find out anything else she had to give him a shot. Risk her heart. Trust him.

Kate took a breath. Okay, so she wanted this. She was sure of it now. She was terrified but she wanted... she wanted him.

As if coming when she called Castle rounded the corner and walked over to her smiling. Without thinking, and before she could talk herself out of it she grabbed his shirt and pulled him to her, wrapping her other arm around his neck she kissed him soundly, the fingers of her first hand, tightening around the material of his dress shirt to prevent him from escaping. Not that he was trying to go anywhere. He'd been surprised, but he'd certainly come willingly when she'd pulled. One of his arms slid along the arm she'd used to reel him in, his hand coming to a stop between her shoulder blades, holding her close while his other hand moved to her hip. No, Richard Castle was certainly not an unwilling participant. But then he'd always made it abundantly clear if she ever offered him this he'd accept. She'd just have to trust that it wasn't all he wanted. Either that or resurrect the old kill him and hide the body plan.

Slowly Castle pulled his lips from hers with a sigh and placed a soft kiss to her forehead. "Come to dinner with me tonight," he asked softly, almost pleadingly.

Well, that wasn't exactly the request she'd... Not that she was disappointed or anything, but... she really should have known better with Castle by now. "What?" Beckett asked him, forcing herself to meet his eyes and trying to clear her head.

"Dinner." He repeated, his grin coming out full force when he saw her eyes weren't quite focussing properly. "I want to take you out to dinner. Somewhere nice, not too fancy, but nice. We'll both get dressed up, I'll buy you flowers as part of my on-going crusade to make you fall helplessly in love with me, we'll eat, maybe laugh a little. Talk. You said earlier we needed to talk. No reason we can't multitask."

"Okay." She told him. Suddenly, as if to compensate for the fact that it had been running at half-speed since her lips had touched hers, her brain kicked into overdrive. She was currently standing in one of the observation rooms of the police station, in what could only be described as a compromising position with her consultant. She dropped her hands abruptly, took a step back, shook her head slightly to clear it, and sent him a more normal smile. "Dinner sounds nice. We'll talk. What time?"

"Pick you up at seven?" He asked her.

Beckett glanced at her watch, and nodded, she'd have enough time to go home and get changed. "Sure. Sounds good. I guess I'll see you then."

She was nervous. He couldn't believe it but she looked nervous. Happy, but still... and after she'd been the one who'd yanked him towards her the second he'd been within snaring distance. Not that he was trying to discourage that type of behaviour, but it was an interesting contrast. His smile deepened, and he couldn't help noticing hers mirrored it unconsciously as he took her hand. Briefly running his lips across the backs of her fingers he leaned in slightly, dropping his voice to just above a whisper. "I look forward to it. Till tonight my dear Detective." Watching as her smile was replaced by a look of pure surprise, he dropped her hand, kissed her cheek, turned and left the room before he could change his mind about this whole, doing it properly thing, and basically shoved her up against the nearest hard surface.

Kate stood stock still, willing her body temperature down and trying (but failing) to contain her grin. Fun. She told herself. Remember fun.

TBC


	4. Chapter 4

Good lord my chapters are really getting out of control so I'm glad that longer chapters are popular. I very nearly split this one up, but there was really no good place to do it. Okay, so that's a lie. There was no place that I _wanted_ to do it. So I didn't. Anyways, this is the end. And I think it might be the end of the series (which I'm kind of sad about), because I'm not so sure where to go from here. Although I suppose you never know. I'd like to thank everyone who reviewed either this, or A Matter of Motive, because as I said, I really appreciate it, and if the feedback to the first one hadn't been so positive this might never have been written. I appreciate everybody's comments. So thank you for taking the time.

Speaking of comments, this fic is the first true romance that I have ever written, so any feedback anyone has would be by me appreciated, if it's not too much trouble. Even if you just mention what you liked and what you didn't. And I suppose I should warn you, this chapter is pretty much pure fluff from start to finish.

Oh, and I will be re-posting all chapters in a few days or so after correcting all the little grammatical errors, so if anyone happens to notice any, feel free to point them out.

And now there's nothing left to say except, as always I own nothing. And enjoy.

xxxxx

Kate arrived home not long after her conversation with Castle. She'd gotten started on some of the paperwork for their last case, but had decided to leave the rest until the morning. Right now she had to get ready for her date. With Castle. Oh God. She had a date with Castle.

No Kate, she told herself. You will not panic. You decided you wanted him. And he told you he wanted you. Well sort of. He might not have used those words, but it was definitely implied, even if he might have been teasing a little bit. It was always hard to tell with Castle. But he had said the two of you would talk. So calm down, and get changed.

Oh crap. What on earth was she going to wear to go out on a date with Richard Castle?

In order to stop the panic from rising again Kate grabbed her cell phone and punched in a familiar number.

"Hello?" a voice on the other end greeted.

But Beckett was in no mood for social niceties. "Lanie what the hell do you wear out to dinner to a place that is, and I quote: Nice. Not too fancy, but nice?" she demanded.

"Beckett?" Lanie asked confused. "What on earth are you... Oh girl, the reason you're asking me that question had better be the one I think it is."

Kate sighed, "It is."

"So he's taking you out to dinner?" Lanie asked, and Kate could hear her friend's grin down the phone line.

"Yes." Kate admitted.

"About damn time," was the good doctor's opinion. "I guess he got his courage up after you solved the case. Maybe some sort of post-case celebration?" Lanie guessed.

"Actually I think it had more to do with the fact that I kissed him," Kate admitted as she rummaged through her closet. The second the words were out of her mouth she regretted them. Lanie was going to go nuts now.

Lanie just laughed, "Did you now? Why Detective Beckett, kissing your consultant. Again. I'm glad to hear it."

"Lanie, can we focus?" Kate asked, even though she figured it was futile. "Right now I'm not interested in the kiss. I'm interested in figuring out what on earth I'm going to wear."

"Speak for yourself. I'm far more interested in this kiss," Lanie told her.

"Of course you are," Kate said with a sigh.

"It's what, your third?" Lanie double-checked.

Kate paused in her search, "Does on the cheek count?"

"When'd you kiss him on the cheek?"

Oh crap. Well now she was royally screwed. "Last night, when I was returning Alexis' cell phone. She left it at the precinct," Kate explained, trying to keep her tone nonchalant.

"You were at his house with his family? Again?" Well that was interesting, Lanie thought to herself. It seemed her friend had been spending a quite a bit of time with the Castle family. And somehow Lanie didn't think she was quite getting all the details.

"They asked me to stay for ice cream!" Kate said defensively. "You try saying no to that family. Anyways, the kiss, well, it was just to say thank-you for the sundae." Kate paused in her search for something to wear a second time. God, she didn't even believe that. There was no way Lanie would.

"And what was this one to say thank-you for?" Lanie asked with a grin, not buying the excuse for a minute.

Kate decided she might as well tell the truth. Lanie'd just badger it out of her anyways. "Nothing. This one wasn't to say thank-you for anything. It was... it was different."

"Was it now?" Lanie had to admit she was having the time of her life. Kate so rarely got flustered, that when she did teasing her was always fun.

Kate sighed. Yup, she'd been right, there was no way she was getting out of this. Lanie would have been one hell of an interrogator. She'd better just get it over with. "Alright, I kissed him because I wanted to. Because he's a good kisser. Because every time he's within five feet of me I pretty much want to anyways. I like him Lanie; I _want_ to go out to dinner with him. Is that what you wanted to hear. _God._ I thought this is what you wanted me to do. I'm attracted to him. Are you happy now? What is so wrong with that?" Kate asked.

Kate realized that despite (or perhaps because of) her outburst Lanie was still irritatingly amused. "Nothing's wrong with that sweetie. I'm just glad you finally dug yourself out that pit of denial you'd buried yourself in and admitted it to yourself."

Kate gave up and rested her head against her closet door. "Great, so can we focus on my wardrobe problem now?" she asked.

"You want me to come over and help you?" Lanie offered.

"No." Kate told her, "Because I don't have a lot of time and if you're still here when he gets here then that's just weird. Besides, I've been dressing myself for a while now and I'm sure I can figure it out."

"If you say so," Lanie told her sceptically.

Kate sighed, "Just tell me what you think 'nice, but not too fancy' means."

"Truthfully?" Lanie asked. "I think that's basically the date equivalent of the dreaded 'dress-code: semi-formal'. I'm pretty sure it means you can wear whatever the hell you want. My advice though? Wear a skirt. He sees you in dress pants all the time. Skirt and a nice shirt and you'll be fine hon'. You must own a black skirt. Those things go with anything."

Kate sighed, feeling slightly calmer. "Okay. Thanks Lanie."

"No problem. Maybe find one on the shorter side while you're at it."

"Lanie!"

"Nothing wrong with showing a little leg girl," Lanie pointed outs slyly.

Kate laughed, she should have known.

"And Beckett," Lanie added.

"Yeah?"

"Calm the hell down. This is a good thing."

Kate paused before replying, "Yeah, I know it is."

"Good," Lanie said. "I hope you have fun tonight."

"Me too," Kate admitted.

"Oh, and Beckett?"

"Yeah?"

"I want details," Lanie told her.

"Good-bye Dr. Parish."

"Good-bye Detective."

xxxxx

Castle walked into his apartment and set his keys on the counter. Moments later a surprised Alexis walked into the room, "Hey Dad. You're home early," she said.

He looked up and grinned at her, "We closed the case," he told her. "Thanks in part to yours truly of course."

Alexis rolled her eyes. "I'm sure Detective Beckett had something to do with it as well," she pointed out.

"Of course," Castle admitted easily. "That's why I said _in part_. Beckett figured out who our murderer was, I figured out how to get him to admit it. It was a joint effort."

"You two make a good team," Alexis told her father with a grin.

"I like to think so," Castle confirmed.

Alexis decided a change of subject was in order. "Well, I'm sorry I can't stay and celebrate, but I told Owen I'd go to a movie with him tonight," she told her father. "Don't worry, we're going to the early show so I should be back by ten."

"Okay sweetie," he told her. "Have fun, and be safe. But actually I have plans myself so I probably won't be here when you get back. So make sure to lock the door, especially if your grandmother's not home. And don't wait up, I'm not sure how late I'll be," he told his daughter. Given her ridiculously responsible schedule he figured there was a chance she'd be in bed by the time he got home. Well, he hoped so at least. There was always a chance the evening would be a disaster and he'd be the first one back. Back from his date with Beckett. Had a nice ring to it. He wondered if now that he was dating her, she'd tell him he could call her by her first name.

"Dad, I'm not five. I know enough to lock the door when I get home, whether I'm alone or not," Alexis told him indulgently. "Wait, _you _have plans? Since when?"

"Since this afternoon," he told her.

"Really?" Alexis asked, suddenly suspicious. "With who?"

Castle grinned. "Now sweetie, I know that a lot of the time you're the responsible one in the family, but I am capable of taking care of myself. Don't worry about me. And go get ready for your date with Owen."

He was avoiding answering her question. Pretty pointless, considering his avoidance pretty much confirmed her suspicions about his mystery plans, but a valiant effort nonetheless. "I just want to make sure your date is good enough you know," Alexis told her father.

"Who said I had a date?" Castle asked. "I said plans."

"Dad," Alexis said in utter disbelief. It was completely obvious.

Castle's smile grew. "Alright fine," he told her. "I know you're concerned, but trust me, you have nothing to worry about. Now go, you don't want to be late."

"Actually, I'm already ready," Alexis told her father. "I just have to grab my purse from the closet. But I guess I should be heading out, just in case there's a line at the theatre."

"Okay honey. Be safe."

"Bye Dad!" Alexis called as she opened the door. "And tell Kate I said hi!"

Castle just shook his head as he walked upstairs. Was he really that transparent?

xxxxx

Half an hour later Castle was walking downstairs again, ready to head out. He'd gotten changed (though picking out an outfit had taken more time than he'd willingly admit to), and called the restaurant to make a reservation. All that was left was to stop and pick up some flowers for his lovely Detective and he'd be all set.

"Well don't you look nice," a voice from the other room said as he went to grab his keys from the counter where he'd left them.

Castle gave a mental sigh. Of course she'd be home tonight, "Thank you mother. I didn't realize you were home."

"Actually I've been home all afternoon," Martha told him with a smile. "What's the occasion?"

"None of your business," he replied quickly.

"Well that may be true," Martha told him, "But a mother has a right to pry into her son's life from time to time." She gave him another once over for effect, "And based on appearances I'd say that my son has a date. But a date with whom I wonder?"

This must be what living in a fishbowl was like, Castle thought to himself. So much for keeping things relatively private. He'd never stood a chance. Not that the fact that he was dating Beckett was something to be ashamed of, or was something his family would even find particularly surprising. He knew he certainly didn't _need _to hide it from his family, but... if it didn't work out.... If it didn't work out they'd know. And things would be awkward. A little privacy would have been nice is all, at least while he and Beckett were testing the waters... but now...

Throughout his mental panic Martha had continued talking, "You've been working on a case for the last few days, which would tend to limit your pool of potential dating partners, unless you stooped to a new low and started dating a person of interest in your murder investigation of course. But let's assume that's not the case shall we darling? Besides, unless you're acting like an irredeemable cad, given your behaviour towards a certain homicide detective over the last few days..."

"Enough mother!" Castle interrupted. "Just. Back. Off." He practically growled at her.

Martha broke off her speech abruptly at his interruption. "Why darling, I was just teasing you a little. There's no need to get _angry_," she told him as she walked over to him to get a better look at his face. "But you're not actually angry are you? No," she said as she examined him more closely, grinning when he looked away, "You're not angry at all. You're _nervous_," his mother amended, her tone shocked. "In fact, I might go so far as to say you're downright terrified!" Martha exclaimed with glee.

"I am _not_ terrified," Castle shot back, "I would remind you that I have been on quite a few dates before," he added.

But Martha shook her head, "Not like this one," she told him. "Even when you were dating your ex-wives, you didn't react like this. You _are_ terrified, and all I can say is Praise the Lord!"

"Excuse me?" Castle asked her.

"You heard me," Martha retorted. "I've watched you. I've watched you go out with society belles, over-adoring fans, and hundreds of other similarly vapid people, all trying to nail a rich husband. But none of them mattered. And I don't blame you for it; everyone needs a little fun in life. But for the last twenty years I've been waiting for you to find a real woman, a strong woman. And now you've found one, and she matters. And you know your usual shtick won't work on her. Katherine Beckett doesn't care that you're a millionaire celebrity, doesn't care about being photographed for the tabloids. She is not going to be impressed by fancy cars, or a beach house on an island paradise, or whether or not you can get a table at the fanciest restaurants in New York with one phone call..."

"I'm not taking her to a fancy restaurant," Castle muttered. "I'm taking her to Frankie's."

Martha paused pleased, "Ah, so you do know her."

"Mother, I've been following her around for the better part of a year now. I think I know her pretty well," Castle pointed out. "This could be awkward enough without taking her somewhere with white table-cloths, 18 utensils, and waiters in tuxedos."

"Yes, I could see how this type of shift in your relationship could be awkward," Martha said softly in an attempt to keep him talking.

"Right, well, it's obviously going to be a little awkward, but we can get past it," Castle replied, trying to sound convincing.

"Well you'd better, given that you see her almost every day," Martha told him.

Castle shot her a look, "Thank-you for that Mother. That _had _occurred to me already."

"Well of course it has," Martha told him with a wave of your hand. "That's part of the reason you're terrified. Quite apart from the fact that you're falling fast," she added with a grin.

"Mother," Castle said with a groan. "Well, if you're done having fun at my expense, I really should be going now. Don't wait up."

Martha's voice stopped him. "You know, for all that people talk about how insightful your characters are, you really can be hopelessly dense sometimes."

Castle stopped in his tracks, "What now mother?" he asked exasperated.

"There's no need to get snippy," she told him. "I was merely going to point out that for all your panic you've clearly not recognized the one advantage you do have."

Castle sighed, and turned, "And what would that be?" he asked.

Martha grinned, "Merely that the good Detective is quite obviously just as twitterpated as you seem to be." When she saw the shock register on his face, Martha knew she'd hit home. "Ah, you didn't think of that one did you?"

Castle was completely flummoxed, "How do you... Did she..." he started to ask.

Martha's grin turned indulgent. "She didn't have to you fool. Do you really think that Katherine Beckett would risk something like this, with a man like you, especially given your existing working relationship, without a _very _good reason?" Martha paused and waited for her words to sink in before continuing, "Now get going or you'll be late. And for goodness sake's try not to screw it up. Oh, and invite her to the play would you? Brian was able to get tickets. It's on the 25th."

"Right." Castle replied somewhat dazed, "Well, I've got to go. I'll see you later Mother," he told her as he left the apartment.

Martha watched him leave, shaking her head in amusement before sighing softly. God help them all if this didn't work out.

xxxxx

Castle walked down the hall, his heart pounding. Kate couldn't really... I mean, surely he would have noticed if... She had randomly grabbed him and kissed him earlier that day. And she did seem to enjoy his company when they weren't working. _And_ he had thought she'd wanted to stay for ice cream despite her feeble protests. Castle couldn't help grinning. So maybe he had a reason to be hopeful. But then he squashed that thought, he didn't want to seem too arrogant, that would just irritate her. He couldn't be too sure of himself, he'd just be... optimistic.

Yes, he thought as he got into the elevator. He'd be optimistic. Now he thought, for flowers. Because even if Kate Beckett wasn't indifferent to him, he was still going to try and tip the balance further in his favour any way he could.

xxxxx

Kate was standing in her apartment trying not to fidget. She'd followed Lanie's advice and settled on a simple skirt cut to just above the knee and a red v-necked shirt. She'd found her shoes, her coat was by the door and she'd double-checked her hair and make-up. All she needed now was Castle, who should be arriving any moment now. She hoped he got there sooner rather than later; she could use the distraction.

As if on cue her buzzer rang, "Hey, come on up," she told him. Minutes later she heard a knock on her door. After checking that it was indeed Castle on the other side, she opened it. "Hi," she said with a nervous smile.

"Hi," he replied. "These are for you," he told her as he pulled a bouquet of red tulips from behind his back.

"You actually brought me flowers," she said with a little laugh. "They're beautiful, thank-you Castle. Come on in for a second while I put these in a vase."

Following her in and shutting the door behind him, he glanced around her apartment. Unsurprisingly it was full of warm colours and soft furniture, probably to act as some sort of safe haven from the world she lived in every day at work. Turning his focus back to the woman searching through her cupboards for a vase he remarked, "I don't know why you're so surprised Detective; I told you I would bring you flowers."

Kate glanced over from the counter where she was arranging her tulips, "Yeah, but I thought you might have been joking about that," she told him with a grin, before she turned back to her flowers.

He frowned momentarily. She'd thought he'd been joking? Did she think he was taking this _lightly_? Okay, so he'd be the first to admit that he wasn't often the most serious person in a room, but that didn't mean that... He walked towards her, "I can assure you Detective that I'm taking this _very _seriously."

Kate glanced up at that, unable to control the blush that rose to her cheeks, or the smile that bloomed across her face. "Me too Castle."

He smiled in response, "Good," he told her. "Are you ready to go, or do you need more time with your tulips?" he asked.

She grinned, "No, I'm ready," she told him.

He held out a hand, "Then let's go." When she took it he added, "By the way, I don't believe I mentioned how lovely you look tonight. Because you do. Look lovely I mean," he said as he helped her with her coat, grinning when her blush deepened. She really did look fantastic in that skirt. It was a shame skirts were so impractical for catching criminals really. He liked her hair that way too, half up and curling slightly around her face. And enlightened as he was, he couldn't suppress the male pride that surfaced at the thought that she'd put all that effort into looking nice specifically for him.

"Thanks," she told him. "You look nice too," she added. He did look nice in his black slacks, blue dress shirt and beige jacket. He smelled good too. She wasn't sure what was in his cologne but it made her want to do the most interesting things...

"Such praise," Castle told her, softening his words with a laugh.

"Well, I wouldn't want you to get too conceited Castle," Kate retorted quickly.

"No chance with you around Detective," he replied.

Kate just laughed.

Castle waited patiently as Kate locked her apartment door, before offering her his arm and escorting her to the elevator. Once they got out of the building he led her to a waiting cab, and after giving the driver the address of the restaurant, they were off.

Now what? He thought to himself. Well this was just great. He finally got Beckett on a date and he had no idea what to say to her. It's not like he could ask her about her day. After all, he'd been right there for most of it. And small talk just seemed... strange. He supposed there was always the usual 'getting to know you' type questions, but he already knew a lot of her answers to those, and she knew his. Well crap, this was awkward. He should have anticipated this problem and come up with some sort of list of potential topics of conversation. Stupid, he told himself.

Luckily (or unluckily depending on how you looked at it), Kate seemed to be suffering from the same problem. The situation was a bit surreal. But she was the one who thought of something to break the silence first, "So, where are we going for dinner?" she asked him.

Castle glanced over and tried to sound relaxed, "A little Italian place not far from here," he told her. "You do like Italian don't you?" he asked, suddenly worried.

Kate grinned at that, "Yes Castle, I do like Italian."

"Good. I suppose I should have checked, but I didn't think. I mean, most people like it anyways, but that's beside the point." Good grief, he was rambling. He didn't know which was worse, that or the awkward silence. Deciding that the rambling was the lesser of the two evils he kept going, "I go there every so often. It's really good food, without being really pretentious or really fancy. Plus it's smaller, which is nice."

"Sounds perfect," Kate told him with a smile.

He smiled back. Unfortunately, after that the both lapsed into silence. This is idiotic, Kate thought to herself. It's just Castle. What the hell is wrong with you? And what the hell was wrong with him? Usually she couldn't get him to stop talking! She sighed softly; maybe this had been a mistake. Maybe they should have taken a couple of days to think this through. No, she was not going to sabotage this before it even started. They'd figure it out. It was always bound to be a bit awkward. Maybe things would be better once they actually got to the restaurant.

Castle heard her sigh and winced. And things had started off so well what with her opening the door and looking all fantastic. Although to be fair, she still looked fantastic. They just needed to figure out a way to get past the awkwardness. Yes. That was all. He blamed the cab. Things had been fine back at her apartment, but now they were in an enclosed space, a set difference apart, and things were awkward. That gave him an idea. He glanced at his watch, they definitely had time.

"Hey Beckett?" he asked.

"Yeah?"

"You want to walk the rest of the way? We're a bit early and it's not far. It's a safe neighbourhood, and a nice night."

Kate considered the request. She had a feeling she knew why he was asking, and it wasn't a bad idea. A walk would be more natural... she hoped. "Sure, that sounds nice," she told him, sending him what she liked to think was an encouraging smile.

He smiled back, relieved, before tapping on the glass in front of him and informing the cabbie that they'd be getting out early. After paying the man he joined Beckett on the sidewalk and again offered her his arm. "I assume we're going this way," she remarked, gesturing in direction the cab had been going.

"Yeah," he confirmed. They walked in silence for a couple of minutes, before Castle broke it rather desperately, "You're not too cold are you?" he asked.

"No, I'm fine." Beckett told him.

"Or your shoes, they're not hurting your feet are they? Because I know that, for some inexplicable reason, women's shoes aren't always made for actually made for walking in."

Beckett laughed, "No Castle, trust me, I'm fine. I'm not cold, and these shoes are actually fairly comfortable."

"Okay good," he told her before they lapsed into silence again.

Beckett's thoughts began to wander. Okay, what was going on? Maybe she should have pretended to be a little cold, if only to keep the conversation going! This was getting ridiculous. It was awkward; she felt it, and she knew he did too. And if things kept going the way they were the evening could well end up being a disaster. It just didn't make any sense. They'd been circling each other for the last week, and it had never been this awkward. But then again, there'd never been any obvious intent until now. Before this afternoon everything could still be denied, and they'd suddenly lost that luxury. Kate got a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach... Maybe...

She shook her head quickly. No, she'd already put herself on the line here. She owed it to herself to see this through. There had to be a way to ease the mounting tension between them. She stopped walking abruptly, and Castle turned to her concerned. "Something wrong?" he asked.

"No." She told him, shaking her head, before sighing and amending her statement, "Well, yes, actually." She watched as his face fell slightly, before she just decided to bite the bullet. "You haven't done anything wrong, quite the opposite actually, but... well... It's just..." She took a breath and just said it. "This is really awkward."

"I know!" he burst out, glad that she'd just come out and said it. "It's ridiculous."

"_Completely_ ridiculous," she agreed.

"I mean, it's not like I thought it was going to be smooth sailing from start to finish," Castle explained, "but this is insane! For some reason I can't think of a single thing to say to you. I mean, it's _you_. It's like my brain has just disappeared! Even when you're mad at me, I can still always think of something to talk about."

"Well how do you think I feel?" Kate asked. "Usually I can't get you to shut up."

"Yeah, and let's face it, it's not like I'm not _attracted _to you Detective. Because I am. Very attracted to you," Castle couldn't help pointing out.

"Yeah, I got that," she told him. "And I can't say that I find you completely unappealing," Kate admitted.

"_Really?_" Castle asked, pleased by the admission.

"Oh shut up," she told him good-naturedly.

"Yet this is still really awkward," Castle concluded.

"Yes it is," Kate confirmed.

"Huh," Castle remarked. "So what do we do about it?" he asked.

The both paused in the middle of the sidewalk lost in thought.

"There has to be some sort of a solution right?" Kate asked.

"Sure," Castle told her. "And we're smart... aren't we?"

"Yeah, we are." Kate agreed, "We catch murderers for a living Castle, surely we're smart enough to figure this out."

"Right, this should be a piece of cake," he told her. "I mean, it's _you_."

"Exactly. We've just need a game plan," Kate agreed, "Otherwise..." she trailed off because although she really didn't want to go down that road, but her stupid brain couldn't seem to stop.

Castle realized where her thoughts were heading and his heart leapt to his throat. She was thinking of stopping this thing before it even had a chance to start. No way was he letting her do that, "NO. No otherwise. Stop right there Detective. We will figure this out," he insisted.

"I was just going to suggest that maybe we should wait a couple of days, you know, to wrap our minds around everything," Kate told him feebly. "I wasn't going to suggest dropping the idea altogether." Well, she was pretty sure she wouldn't have suggested that. But she was pretty terrible with relationships so...

A part of him thought she might have a point; maybe they had taken things a bit too fast. Maybe some time would... he didn't now... be a good thing. But then another part of him disagreed vehemently with that suggestion, "I don't think that's such a good idea. Maybe that might have worked if we'd thought of it _before_ I picked you up tonight, but if we do it now we'll always have the unresolved awkwardness of tonight hanging over our heads and sabotaging all future attempts," he pointed out.

"That's true," Kate acknowledged. "And if we did postpone then I'd just be hungry on top of everything else."

"Exactly," Castle said. "So, other ideas?"

Kate lapsed back into silence considering.

"Ooh. I know!" Castle exclaimed, "Maybe it would help if you didn't call me by my last name," he suggested.

Kate paused considering. "To separate the professional and the personal you mean... I see your point. I can try, but I've gotten pretty used to calling you Castle. I kind of like it. And calling you Rick just seems strange somehow." Then she remembered a request made earlier in the week, "However, now that I'm out on a date with you, I suppose you can call me Kate if you want," she told him with a smile.

Castle grinned, "Okay _Kate_," he told her, stressing her first name. "That's one change. What else has changed?"

Kate paused to consider. "Not much," she pointed out. "It's not like you don't flirt with me at the precinct pretty much constantly already," she told him.

"Yeah," Castle admitted. That was true.

"Everything else is the same," Kate continued. "Well, except the intent of course."

"And it seems the intent is the problem," Castle said with a sigh.

The pair lapsed into silence again.

Castle had to admit she was right about there being some sort of serious intention behind the banter now, but should that really make that much of a difference? Sure, the original flirting had been all in fun, but just because they both wanted it to go somewhere didn't need to suck the fun out of it, did it? So why had he been panicking all evening? It wasn't like he'd always been perfectly calm around her before. Heck, sometimes his heart-rate rose whenever she stepped anywhere near him. Any fool could see the chemistry between them. In fact, the only time since he'd seriously started thinking about pursuing this that he hadn't been panicked at all had been... Castle paused, well that was an interesting notion.

"I have an idea," Castle told her suddenly.

"You do?" Kate asked, her voice hopeful.

"Maybe what we just need is to calm down for a minute, figure out a way to stop the panic and awkwardness from settling in. Then we can move on with dinner."

"Okay, sounds good," Kate agreed. "But how do you plan on doing that?"

Castle grinned and stepped towards her, moving her into a little alcove off the sidewalk to give them at least the illusion of privacy, "I was thinking about a little distraction," he admitted.

Her heart started thudding in her chest, "Like what?" she asked, trying to keep her voice steady.

Castle noticed her nerves and his grin turned predatory, "Just trust me Kate okay?" he asked as he took her hand and began tracing the lines of her palm.

Kate's breath hitched, "Okay." she told him as she inched towards him.

Castle watched her eyes for a second longer before cupping her face with his hands and kissing her. It was like flipping a switch. Any residual panic just fell away, and all he could think of was Kate. He could smell that heady combination of her perfume and her body wash again. God, how did she manage to always smell so good? Then she let out a murmur of pleasure after he traced his tongue across her lower lip and he lost the ability to think altogether. Eventually he pulled away slightly to catch his breath. Mere moments after his lips left hers she wrapped her arms around his neck and whispered his name.

Good lord, if he'd had any idea how much a single breathy "Rick," would affect him he'd have insisted she call him that from the day they met. As things stood he had no other option but to kiss her again even more desperately. Castle felt her arms tighten around his neck as she pressed her body into his. She was trying to kill him, there was no other explanation for it. And he couldn't bring himself to care.

Kate's head was spinning. She knew they were in a semi-public location, but that didn't seem to matter all that much at that moment. Not as long as he kept doing what he was doing. She had to admit the panic and awkwardness had disappeared long ago. She felt one of his hands drop to her waist to pull her even closer, while the other tangled in her hair to further prevent her escape, not that she wanted to escape of course. Letting out another moan of pleasure she angled her head to deepen the kiss, and then gasped as her knees buckled, thankful that he had a pretty solid hold on her.

Sometime later his grip on the back of her neck loosened and she managed to dethatch her mouth from his. Dropping her head to his shoulder Kate grinned, "I've got to say Castle, that may have been one of the best ideas you've ever had," she told him, leaning against his shoulder and waiting for her legs to steady.

Kate could feel his answering grin against her hair. "Oh, so it's back to Castle is it now?" he asked her. "Not that I mind," he added quickly. "In fact, I'm not sure that I'd mind anything at all right now."

"Hmm..." Kate hummed in agreement.

"So, your panic gone?" he double checked. "Because mine flew out the window ages ago. God you smell good."

"Nope, no panic here," Kate admitted. "How'd you know that'd work?" she asked him.

"I didn't," Castle told her candidly. "But I thought it was worth a shot. And even if it didn't get rid of the awkwardness I figured that at the very least it'd give me one hell of a reason to make sure neither of us bailed on this thing."

Kate laughed delightedly. "And what exactly is this _thing_, Mr. Castle?"

He sobered slightly, "What do you want it to be?" he asked her.

"I asked you first," she countered quickly.

He mentally sighed, "Well I guess one of us has to bite the bullet and just say it, it may as well be me." He took a deep breath, "Detective Katherine Beckett, Kate... I am utterly, and completely crazy about you, have been since the day we met, though I may have been too stupid to realize it at the time. And I would like very much for you to be, for lack of a better word, my girlfriend."

Kate grinned, "Okay." She told him happily.

"Okay?" he asked somewhat put out. "I tell you I want to start a relationship and that's all you have to say?"

Kate laughed again and kissed him quickly. "Yes, Richard Castle, I'll be your girlfriend." She caught the expression on his face, "You needn't look so surprised," she told him. "I told you I was an all or nothing kind of girl once."

"I know," he agreed, "But, but... I told you from the day we met that all you had to do was say the word. What did you think I wanted?"

"I wasn't sure. And if I recall the original offer was for a night in your bed if I'm not mistaken."

"Hey, all I suggested was that we get to know each other better. You were the one who interpreted that as being a conquest of some kind. And I don't _ever_ recall putting any kind of timeline on the offer."

"You honestly expect me to believe that you were suggesting a relationship back then?" Kate asked him incredulously.

"Well maybe not," Castle admitted. "I can't remember exactly what I was suggesting, but I would like to believe that if I had been lucky enough to get a night with you I'd have been smart enough not to let you get away afterwards. Like I said Katherine Beckett, you are extraordinary."

Kate wasn't sure what to say to that, so she settled for quickly kissing him again.

"This is getting to be a habit Detective," he told her when she pulled away.

"Isn`t that the idea?" she asked him with a wicked grin. Pleased beyond measure when his eyes widened in surprise, Kate took his hand in hers, "Take me to dinner Rick."

"Of course," he replied as he led her towards the restaurant.

xxxxx

Castle was sure he was still grinning like an idiot when they arrived at the restaurant, but he didn't much care. He knew they were a little late, only about fifteen minutes or so, but Frankie'd be sure to notice.

Sure enough he heard a voice calling his name as soon as he stepped in the door, "Richard Castle!" the older man cried. "I was beginning to worry. For all your flaws, you're almost always punctual when it comes to your meals," he exclaimed.

"Sorry Frank," he apologized with a grin. "We got a little distracted."

At that the older man focussed on Kate for the first time, "Ah. Well, that I can't say I blame you for that Richard," he admitted.

"Kate this is Frankie, he owns the place."

"Very pleased to meet Kate," Frank told her.

"It's nice to meet you as well," Kate agreed. Then she turned to Castle, "You really do know everyone don't you?"

"Pretty much," the writer agreed, laughing when she shook her head.

"Alright, well come on you two, your table's over here," Frank told them. "Your server will be right over to tell you the specials."

"Thanks Frank," Castle told him as they sat down.

"Anytime Rick."

Kate took a moment to look around. This wasn't exactly the type of place she'd expected Castle to take her. For one, it was pretty unobtrusive from the street. And Castle had been telling the truth when he'd said it was small, although cozy was closer to the word she'd have used. The tables were plain wood, the booths were overstuffed and covered in cushions, and the whole place was decorated in warm colours and low lighting. She loved it almost instantly.

Glancing back at Castle, she realized he'd been watching her. He raised an eyebrow, "Well, what do you think?" he asked her.

"It's perfect," she said sincerely. "And I'm sure the food's good."

"Some of the best pasta in all of New York," Castle told her.

"But not _the _best?" she teased.

"Well, maybe," he admitted, "But there's an awful lot of competition so I don't want to commit myself. They definitely have the best chocolate mousse," he told her, laughing when her eyes widened. "Yeah, I thought you'd like that."

Kate grinned, "Well, I guess it was inevitable that you found out what I like, you do seem to keep feeding me."

"All part of my plan to lure you into my trap," Castle told her candidly.

"Hm." Kate paused, "Well maybe I'll have to return the favour then."

Well that called up all sorts of interesting images of an intimate dinner for two at the Beckett residence. Castle grinned, "Just name the day, and I'll be there with bells on," he told her.

She grinned indulgently, "Well, maybe leave the bells at home. My neighbours might complain."

"Spoilsport."

"I guess we'd better at least open our menus before the waitress gets here," Kate pointed out.

"I guess," Castle agreed. "Although I know pretty much everything that's on there. But you go ahead and look through it."

The waitress did come by shortly to take their order. When she left Kate started up a new topic of conversation, "So, what's everyone at the Castle residence doing this evening?" she asked.

Castle grinned, "Well, Alexis has a date with Owen at the movies, and Martha, well, I'm not sure what Mother's plans are. She was home when I left, though I have no idea if she's planning on staying there. I'm just praying the apartment's in one piece when I get back."

Kate rolled her eyes, "I'm sure your apartment will be fine."

"You say that, but you don't know what Mother's capable of," Castle warned.

"Your mother is a lovely woman," Kate argued.

"Yes, she is," Castle agreed. "But that doesn't mean that she's always a responsible one," he pointed out. "Seriously, one time I got home after she'd been home alone and there were literally lime shards embedded in the ceiling."

Kate giggled, "I'm sure you were able to get them out," she told him.

"That's hardly the point," Castle grumbled.

"Oh poor baby," Kate mocked gently.

Castle grinned at her again, "Speaking of Martha, a friend of hers is staring in a new play this month and he's given us four tickets. She wanted me to invite you to come along if you're free. It's on the 25th."

Kate paused, "Oh, well that's awfully nice of her. Of course I'd be glad to come, if you're sure I'm not intruding."

"Kate..." Castle started to interrupt.

But Kate kept talking. "I know you always say I'm not Castle, but I hardly need to come to all of your family events. Besides, I thought you weren't planning on telling Martha about this yet. Not that I mind, I'm just curious"

Castle sighed; he guessed he'd better just tell her. "Okay, well first of all, I didn't _tell_ Martha where I was going tonight; she guessed. Actually, she and Alexis _both_ guessed. And as for feeling like your intruding at family events, you'd better get over that Kate. One, we wouldn't invite you if we didn't want to, and two," he paused, "Two, my mother and daughter already like you so much that they've been scheming for the better part of the last week to have you around as much as possible."

"What?" Kate exclaimed genuinely shocked.

"You honestly haven't noticed?" Castle asked, continuing when she shook her head. "Oh yes. It seems my family has been playing matchmaker. From Alexis inviting you out to Indian food with us, and then over for taco night, to dropping by the precinct and "accidentally" leaving her phone conveniently on your desk, which she made sure I called later, coincidentally at the exact time that we decide to have sundaes, as suggested by my mother, whose friend also just happened to give her four tickets to a new play. I'm afraid you've been hooked into a scheme."

"I'm not sure how I feel about that," Kate acknowledged with a grin.

"I felt that way at first," Castle admitted. "After all, I was worried that the only reason you were spending time with me was because you happened to like my family."

"They are pretty great," Kate agreed.

"Thanks for that," he told her ruefully. "Then I realized, hey, who cares why you were there? I was still getting exactly what I wanted anyways. What did it matter how it happened? So I decided to go along with their nefarious plots because it suited my own ends," he told her with a grin.

But Kate was still processing what he'd told her, "So you're saying that your family has been effectively plotting to..."

"To throw us together at every turn. Yes," Castle confirmed. "In short my female relatives have decided that you are so vastly superior to any woman I have ever showed any interest in that they couldn't possibly leave things in my incompetent hands. And like I said, since I happen to share their opinion, I didn't see any point in putting a stop to it."

Kate could feel the warmth bubbling up from somewhere near her stomach and radiating through her entire body. "It's really not fair you know," she told him.

"What isn't?" he asked confused.

"You. Your family. You're just so unbelievably charming." Kate sighed, "I never even stood a chance."

"Nope," Castle agreed with a nod.

At that point their server arrived with their food, interrupting their conversation.

xxxxx

After getting over the original awkwardness their conversation flowed naturally for the most part, and dinner seemed to fly by. Soon Kate was toying with the ends of the fettuccini she wasn't sure she'd be able to finish, good as it was. "That was amazing," she told Castle.

"I'm glad you enjoyed it," he told her with a smile. "Did you save room for desert?"

She groaned, "I don't know Castle. I would say no, but I believe you mentioned chocolate mousse?"

"Dark chocolate mousse," he confirmed.

Kate sighed, "I suppose I could be persuaded then."

"Excellent," Castle said with a smile. "They also make a mean cappuccino here," he told her.

"Better than that fancy machine you bought for the station?" she asked with a grin. "And speaking of the station..."

"Ah yes," Castle said with a grin, "The inevitable work discussion."

"Castle!" Kate exclaimed. "I'm serious here. I want to see where this thing goes, but my job is important to me. What I do is important, and I won't let anything get in the way of that."

And you think I'll get in the way of that?" he asked her surprised.

"No," she told him honestly. "Not intentionally, but I think you _could_."

"I see." And he did. He also realized he needed to tread carefully, but he wasn't about to go making promises he wasn't sure he could keep. "Kate, I'm not going to sit here and tell you that this changes nothing when we're working, that we can keep it completely separate. Even if we had the best intentions, I'm not that naive. What I can tell you is that I would never, ever intentionally do anything to prevent you from doing from doing your job effectively. You forget Detective, I've seen you work, I've seen how good at it you are, and I've seen how important what you do is, both to you and the people you help. And I would never knowingly jeopardize that, or ask you to do anything differently. You have my word on that. And I will also do my best not to let this affect how we act when I'm shadowing you."

She always forgot about this side of Castle, the serious side. The side that cared about the victims and was honestly trying to help. She found it unbelievably attractive. Who would have thought that the one person who actually understood her job would be a so-called playboy mystery writer who at first glance behaved like a six-year old? "Thank-you Castle," she told him softly.

"Hey," he told her. "I'm not saying it's going to be perfect. And don't think that just because we're dating I'm going to start obeying your every request," he told her honestly.

"I think I'd be disappointed if you did," Kate admitted wryly. It'd certainly take a lot of the fun out of her day. Maybe some of the frustration as well, but then again, he wouldn't be Castle if he was easy to deal with.

"I always knew you found my roguish charm secretly attractive," he told her.

"You're insufferable you know that?" she asked him exasperatedly. "Look Castle, it's all well and good to say that we won't let this change things, but I still think we have to keep this out of the office as much as possible."

"Technically you don't have an office," he couldn't help pointing out.

"Castle," she said in warning, "I'm serious."

"I know," he admitted. "So no groping you at the precinct huh? Well that's a bit of a disappointment, not to mention a fantasy-killer. But, I suppose I can try and keep my hands off of you while you're on the job Detective, however difficult you might make it."

"Thank-you," she said with a smile.

"You're welcome." Castle replied. "Although I would like to point out that of the two of us, I believe you were the one who practically attacked _me_ in one of the observation rooms," he told her teasingly, grinning when she blushed and let her head drop to her hands. "My virtue never stood a chance," he added.

Kate looked up in shock, "Your virtue? Oh you've got to be _kidding_ me Castle. And I didn't hear you complaining at the time."

"Are you crazy? A beautiful woman decides she wants to passionately kiss me, who am I to argue? Feel free to do it as often as you like, I promise you'll never hear me complain. I was just pointing out that you might be the one we have to worry about here, not me."

Luckily Kate was spared from answering by the arrival of their waitress asking if they wanted desert.

The couple lingered over their coffee and desert, and Kate had to admit the chocolate mousse had certainly been well worth feeling slightly over-full. But the pair couldn't linger forever, and eventually Castle paid the bill, helped Kate with her coat, and the couple left the restaurant.

"You want to go for a walk?" Castle asked suddenly.

"What, now?" Kate asked surprised.

"Well, yes," he told her. "Or we could go grab a drink. I know a nice place not far from here. They usually have live music."

Kate paused and looked at him, her smile widening she tilted her head to the side and waited for him to continue.

Castle let out a breath of exasperation as he realized she wasn't going to make things easy. "Alright, so I'm unwilling to give up the pleasure of your company just yet Detective. Sue me."

Kate ducked her head briefly and took his hand, smiling when he looked surprised. "Nah, how about we just go get that drink instead," she suggested. His answering smile told her everything she needed to know.

xxxxx

A short time later the couple were settled at a table in a little jazz bar not far from the restaurant listening to a band playing something vaguely bluesy in the background. This time Kate broke the silence first, "You like blues?" she asked him.

"I do." Castle confirmed with a nod. "There's something about it. You?"

"Yeah, when I'm in the right mood," Kate confirmed.

"And what mood would that be?" he asked with a knowing smile.

Kate picked up her drink and took a sip before answering, "What do you think Castle?"

His smile warmed, "Oh, I think I could come up with a few suggestions," he told her, brushing a stray hair out of her face. "If you wanted me to of course."

She smiled back, "Why Rick Castle, are you trying to seduce me?" she asked him playfully.

"Always," he told her candidly.

Kate finished her drink, "In that case, wanna dance?" she asked him.

"Absolutely," he told her as he led her over to the dance floor.

Several songs later the couple was still on the dance floor swaying softly with each other. "You're not a bad dancer Detective," Castle whispered in her ear. "Any other talents I should know about?"

She smiled softly. "I guess you'll just have to wait and see," she told him.

"I guess so," he murmured, as he tightened his hold on her.

Kate sighed happily. She could get used to this. A handsome man paying her compliments, taking her out to dinner, dancing with her, teasing her. She let herself snuggle further into his arms. So he drove her up the wall sometimes, at least he wasn't boring. And while the playboy author image wasn't exactly ideal, he did have a fabulous family to make up for it. "So how much flak are you expecting from Martha and Alexis?" she asked him suddenly.

"Hard to say," he told her. "Why? You're not worried are you? You needn't be."

"No, not really," she admitted. "I told you, I like your family."

"I know," Castle said with a smile. "I'm glad. And they like you. They might tease for a while, but it'll wear off eventually. Don't worry about me, I can take it."

"It's nice that you're so close," she murmured. She wondered if he realized how attractive watching him with his daughter was. If he did, he certainly hadn't used it to his advantage, she thought to herself. Well, except to use her affection for his family to spend time with her. Although from the sounds of it, they'd had as much to do with it as he had. Suddenly she froze; he didn't think... he couldn't... I mean, she'd never actually denied...

Castle noticed when Kate stiffened, "Something wrong?" he asked her.

She pulled back slightly. "No," she told him. "Well, yes... maybe... no, not really... it's just..." she trailed off.

"Kate?" he asked concerned.

She let out a breath, knowing she was being an idiot. But then again, she'd never been particularly good at this. "You know that your family isn't your only attraction right?" she asked him, faltering when his smile widened. "I mean, I just wanted you to know that... I know you were just joking before, but I didn't want you to think that... God I'm terrible at this," she muttered.

Castle was grinning now, "I think you're better than you think," he told her as he kissed her.

She pulled away first, looking at him pleadingly and willing him to understand. "It's just, I wanted to tell you that I... I want..."

But he cut her off, "I know Detective," he whispered. "Believe me, _I know_," he told her.

"Okay," she replied, before kissing him again.

"Are you done freaking out now?" he asked her.

"Hard to say," she told him with a grin. "I do like the established method of solving that particular problem."

He grinned in return before pulling her into another kiss.

xxxxx

It was several hours (and several dances) later when Castle finally walked Kate back to her apartment door. "Well thank you for a lovely time Castle," she told him.

"You're very welcome Kate," he told her with a grin. "We should do it again sometime."

She smiled back, "Absolutely."

"What are you doing Saturday?" he asked.

"Nothing I don't think. Why?"

"I thought we could take that walk in the park," Castle offered with a smile.

"I'd like that," Kate told him.

"Alright," he told her. "Well, I guess I should say goodnight then."

"I guess so," she agreed.

He leaned in and kissed her. He didn't think he'd ever get sick of this. "Goodnight Kate," he murmured to her.

"Goodnight Castle," she replied before kissing him again.

She'd meant it to be a relatively short kiss, but apparently her body had other ideas. She felt him ease her up against her front door, and wondered idly if she should ask him in for another drink. Part of her didn't think it was such a great idea. After all, they didn't want to move too fast and screw everything up. But another part of her, well... She sighed, and pulled away.

"Rick," she whispered.

"I know, Kate," he told her. "And believe me, if it weren't for the fact that we had what may have been some of the most awkward 20 minutes of my life in the taxi earlier this evening because we were afraid we were moving too quickly. Well..."

"Yeah," she told him. "Pretty much."

"So I should go," Castle concluded.

"You should," she agreed.

"The fact that your arms are still around my neck makes that difficult," he told her.

"I would point out that your arms are still wrapped firmly around my waist," she countered.

He grinned. "Huh. So they are."

She laughed and kissed him again.

"Alright, well that _definitely_ isn't making this easier," Castle told her.

"Who said life was supposed to be easy?" she asked him. But she did reluctantly remove her arms from around his neck. He stepped away from her and allowed her to open her front door.

"Well, I guess I'll see you on Saturday Detective," he told her. "Unless there's a murder of course."

"Of course," she agreed with a laugh. "Night Castle."

"Night," and with that, he did let her leave, watching as she shut the door before turning and heading back to the elevator.

Kate leaned against the other side of the door, unable to contain her grin when her eyes landed on the vase of tulips still sitting on her counter.

xxxxx

Castle strolled into his apartment, fully expecting everyone to have gone to bed long ago.

"I see it went well," a voice said from the kitchen.

"Jesus mother!" he cried. "That's twice in one day. I thought you'd be asleep," he told her in an attempt to deflect the conversation.

"Well, obviously that's not the case," she replied. "I was having trouble sleeping so I came down for a drink of water," she told him, gesturing to her glass. "And you don't have to say anything," she added. "You've been gone for literally hours. Alexis went to bed long ago. And you certainly don't look like you've spent a significant chunk of that time drowning your sorrows in alcohol. Add that to the look on your face, and well..." Martha trailed off knowingly.

"Goodnight Mother," he told her as he kissed her on the cheek, more amused than irritated by her perception.

"Goodnight Richard," she replied. "Sweet dreams." Not that Martha expected that to be a problem given her son's mood.

Castle sighed, and paused on the stairs. "Kate said she was free on the 25th."

Martha grinned, "Lovely," she told him, as she took a drink of water.

xxxxx

Alexis Castle wandered downstairs the next morning to the smells of breakfast cooking.

"Dad?" she asked tentatively.

"Morning pumpkin!" he greeted her exuberantly. "You're up. Good. I made breakfast. Chocolate chip pancakes!" he told her with a grin as he handed her a plate.

"Thanks Dad," she said with a smile. "You're in a good mood this morning."

Martha walked up behind her. "You think this is bad? You should have seen him last night. He practically floated in the door looking like he'd won the lottery. It was almost sickening," the older woman told her granddaughter.

Alexis laughed. "Did he? Now what on earth could have caused that?" she asked innocently.

"I haven't the faintest idea," Martha remarked sarcastically.

"And after you tried to deny that you were going on a date last night," Alexis scolded as Martha scoffed.

"I didn't try and deny it," Castle defended himself as he ate his pancakes. "I just didn't confirm it either."

"Of course," Alexis said with a sigh, while Martha grinned. "Seriously though Dad, I'm happy for you."

"Thanks pumpkin," he told his daughter. "I'm happy too. And Kate asked me to tell you, the next time you want to talk to her, just give her a call. It'll be easier all around," he said with a grin.

Alexis grinned back, "I can do that," she told him.

xxxxx

Ryan and Esposito were surreptitiously watching their female colleague for the second time that week. "I'm telling you man, this is just weird," Esposito whispered.

"I know," Ryan agreed.

"She's wished everybody at the station a good morning, and even told Cranky Carter down at security desk to have a nice day. And she _meant it_," Esposito explained.

"Forget that," Ryan told the other man. "When I bumped into her at the espresso machine, almost spilling her coffee all over her, I might add, she just smiled and told me it wasn't a big deal. She didn't even make fun of me man. Not even a single crack. Plus she's humming. And she's been doing it for at least a half an hour now."

"That's it," Esposito said as he shook his head. "I'm getting to the bottom of this." He picked up his phone and dialled, waiting for the other person to pick up.

"You've reached the morgue, Dr. Lanie Parish speaking," he heard on the other end of the line.

"She's humming," Esposito told the other woman without preamble.

"What?" Lanie asked confused. "Who is this? This better not be some idiotic prank. Who's humming?"

"It's Esposito," the Detective explained. "And I'm talking about Beckett. She's humming. Has been all morning. Ryan and I were getting concerned."

"You mean you're getting creeped out," Lanie corrected.

"Maybe," Esposito admitted. "You have any idea what's going on?"

Lanie grinned, Kate had better not have any lunch plans, because from the sounds of things the two women needed to talk, and fast. Turning her attention back to the conversation at hand she replied, "I'm not sure _exactly_ what's going on, but I have an idea," Lanie told the confused Detective. "And I think you boys owe me $50," she told Esposito.

"Yeah, we know that already actually. We realized yesterday," Esposito admitted. "But what does Castle being in love with her have to do with..." he paused, considering. "Oh. _Oh_. You're _joking_," he said, his face breaking out into a smile.

"Do I sound like I'm kidding?" Lanie asked him. "Now if that's all Detective, I have a corpse to get back to."

"No, no that's everything Dr. Parish," Esposito told her. "Thank you as always."

"You have a nice day now," Lanie told him with a grin, before hanging up.

Esposito turned to his partner with a smile.

Ryan had already figured out most of the conversation from the half he had heard. "Not really?" he asked.

"Lanie seems to think so," Esposito told him with a shrug.

"Oh, this is going to be fun." Ryan told him with a grin. "Come on."

Together the guys walked over to Beckett's desk, where she was working on paperwork. "You guys need anything?" she asked them with a smile.

"Nah," Esposito told her. "We just thought we'd drop by and say hi."

"Okay," Beckett said, leaning back in her chair. "Hi. How's it going?"

"Pretty good," Ryan told her. "You seem like you're in a good mood today."

"I guess I am," Beckettt admitted.

"No Castle today?" Ryan asked innocently.

Beckett's eyes narrowed slightly. "No," she told him. "No case," she told the other man slowly.

"Yeah, I know." Esposito said agreeably, "But sometimes he drops by anyways."

"Well, I haven't seen him," Beckett said with a shrug. "But if you're desperate for his company I'm sure you could give him a call..." she told the pair with a grin.

"Somehow I don't think it's our company he's after," Ryan muttered under his breath.

"What was that?" Beckett asked.

"Nothing," the other man told him.

"Okay," Beckett told them as she got up from her desk. "Well, if there's nothing else I'm going to go file these reports," she told her colleagues as she turned to walk away.

Esposito called her back, "Hey Beckett?"

She turned, "Yeah?"

The other man smiled, "We're happy for you."

Beckett froze, "What?" she said as she tried to control her blush.

Ryan grinned, "You're happy. We're happy for you. That's it."

"Oh," Esposito added, "And so you know, that offer to kick his ass still stands if you ever need it."

Kate sighed and nodded, "Thanks," she told them as she walked away.

Ryan and Esposito watched her go.

"Well, I never thought I'd see that." Esposito remarked.

"Hell no," Ryan agreed. "I have a feeling things are going to get interesting around here."

Esposito just nodded.

xxxxx

Captain Montgomery was in the middle of the latest budget report when he heard a knock on his door. "Come in!" he called.

"Good morning sir," Beckett said as she opened the door. "I'm sorry to disturb you, but I wanted to give you a copy of my report on the Morrows case," she told him.

The Captain looked up, "Yeah, thanks Beckett," he told her. "That was some case."

"Yes it was," she agreed easily.

"You okay?" he asked her. "You seemed pretty upset yesterday."

"Well," she told him, "I admit I felt badly for our victim's fiancée, still do. But I'm trying to move on."

"Good," her boss told her. "We all need to find some balance in life doing this job."

"Yes we do," Beckett agreed softly.

"See you later Beckett," he told her. "And thanks for this," he added waving the report in the air.

"Of course," she told him. "I'll see you later."

He watched her as she strolled out of his office, a secret smile on her face. He couldn't help smiling himself. It seems things were changing in his department. He certainly never would have seen this coming on the day that she first escorted Richard Castle into the interrogation room. In fact, if anyone had suggested it he would have laughed them out of his office. Still, he figured stranger things had happened.

Captain Montgomery grinned to himself before picking up his phone. Judge Markway was never going to believe this.

xxxxx

The End


End file.
